The campaign was created by the Portman group, which promotes drinking in moderation, along with the Metropolitan Police and the London Ambulance Service.
It will target the 17% of 18- to 24-year-olds who say that they drink to get drunk. The ads will appear as posters and on ambient media, such as pub toilets, "viewrinals" (TV in a toilet) and beer mats. PR stunts will follow.
The campaign claims to be the first in London to promote a health message via what it calls "gossip theatre" -- where two actors will choose a public setting, for example a tube train, for a performance.
They will talk about a friend getting very drunk and making a fool of themselves, playing on the fact that people like to overhear gossip. The actors will finish by bringing the story back around to the campaign message.
The creative work for the campaign has been done in-house.
Harvey Atkinson, a spokesman for the Portman Group, said: "It's a very sophisticated, media-literate audience, and we most certainly don't want to preach at them."
The Portman Group is a pan-industry organisation whose purpose is to help prevent misuse of alcohol and to promote sensible drinking. Members include Bacardi-Martini, Pernod-Ricard and Diageo.
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