Action on Hearing Loss has launched a hard-hitting ad campaign using imagery of people's ears being attacked by either a drill or a hammer and nail in an effort to raise awareness of the damage that listening to loud music can do.

The Loud Music campaign is targeting revellers in London's Borough of Camden, a popular district for gig-goers in the capital. It has been timed to coincide with the Camden Crawl music festival which will take place from tomorrow through till the Monday bank holiday. 

The posters have been distributed across the borough including in telephone boxes, cinemas and on a 3D billboard. The campaign is the first since the charity rebranded from RNID in June of last year, Action on Hearing Loss chief executive Jackie Ballard advised.  "For years we have been trying to educate people about the dangers of loud music and this campaign signifies the sizeable shift in how we are using our brand to engage difference audiences," she added.

Action on Hearing Loss employed the services of Hat-trick design consultants to create the posters, shot in black and white with 'real people' and no re-touching, by John Ross and filmmaker Lindsay Knight.

Hat-trick creative director Jim Sutherland described the logic behind the imagery:

"No-one realises the effect that loud music can have and we wanted a visual metaphor for the damage this can cause. Assorted drills, nails and chisels are a powerful way of showing this. It was important to us to use real students - people whose lives are potentially affected by this issue."

The posters form one part of a wider campaign that has  distributed 6,000 free earplugs in the streets and more earplugs, beer matts and posters in the borough's bars.

Click on the thumbnails below to see the full advertisements.