A campaign has been launched to raise awareness of the effect swimwear colours can have on safety in the water – and to ban dangerous colour choices from the market.
Backed by the UK’s Rebecca Adlington, a world, European and Commonwealth swimming champion and double gold Olympian, the crusade aims to let parents, kids and anyone interested in water safety know that some clothing colours become practically invisible underwater, making it harder to find and rescue swimmers who get into difficulty.
66% of kids wear dangerous colours
On the Beach, a web-based contact point between travel operators and consumers, carried out tests on swimwear products and the results are alarming. Blue, grey and white swimsuits, the study found, become “pretty much invisible underwater, even just 2 metres below the surface”, according to the online agent, with the problem due to “the lack of contrast under the light reflection”.
Despite their lack of visibility, blue, grey and white swimsuits are worn by the vast majority of children, 66% of them. And 90% of parents surveyed were completely unaware of the visibility issue. Yet the safety hazard can be easily avoided, the campaigners point out, by basing swimwear purchases not only on kids’ favourite fictional characters or affordability, but on how vibrant and easy-to-see the swimwear is under water.
Legislation to look after children
The best colour choices, say On the Beach, are pink, yellow, red, black, purple, green, and fluorescent shades. The difference is so startling in the test images shared that the campaign is going as far as calling for blue, grey and white to be banned from use in kids’ swim clothing.
“I’ve swum my entire life and I’ve only recently become aware that there are certain colours that can’t be seen underwater. As a parent, I should have been aware of this sooner,” Adlington says in campaign materials. “Alongside On the Beach, I’m urging the government to review the legislation around selling blue, white and grey swimwear to children. They must make sure retailers are being safe and looking after our children by not selling unseeable swimwear that could put them in danger.”
The campaign website offers a downloadable safety flyer with information about the importance of swimsuit colour choice, as well as links to the UK’s Royal National Lifeboat Institute’s water safety advice. What’s more, up to 5,000 customers booking holidays through On the Beach where the party includes a child between the ages of 4 and 14, are eligible to claim free hi-visibility swimwear featuring the company’s signature palm tree logo.
