To understand young people's low levels of sun protection behaviour, 145 young people (aged 12 to 20 years) were recruited from Queensland, to participate in a one-hour focus group where they discussed issues related to sun protection and images of tanned and non-tanned people. Responses were content analysed to identify common sun protection beliefs and perceptions. Key barriers and motivators for sun protection were identified. Despite young people's awareness of the advantages of sun protection, health promotion efforts still need to focus on not only reducing beliefs about the costs of performing sun protection but also decreasing the positive view of tanned images among youth.