Three million girls in Africa aged 4-12 are at risk of female genital mutilation (FGM) each year.

This brutal tradition can cause severe bleeding, infertility and even death, and can have devastating psychological and social consequences. After FGM, girls are often taken out of school and forced into early marriage.

International charity ActionAid is working in 10 African countries to end the practice. It campaigns, supports and educates to help communities say no to FGM. While awareness of FGM is increasing, there is low awareness of the horrifying effects it can have on girls’ lives.

ActionAid believes awareness is the first step to ending it. So the objective was to generate conversation and greater understanding among the UK population, with a target reach of 400,000. This would give ActionAid a credible voice for fundraising around the issue, and help to end FGM, for good.

We visited a school in Kenya to film the 10-second #BrutalCut video clip.

Without warning on 28 July, the message interrupted vlogger videos, content from digital publishers, celebrity posts, cinema ads, festival screens and outdoor digital ads to deliver the message: “This cut might be irritating, but some cuts are life-destroying”.

The video linked to brutalcut.org where visitors could use a web app to edit a brutal cut into their own selfies and share on social media. The website also features a short documentary explaining the broader context and why ActionAid is building safe centres for girls fleeing FGM in Kenya.

At noon on launch day, 132 digital screens across the UK were cut, including London’s iconic One Piccadilly, in the first-ever synchronised disruption of outdoor media.

#BrutalCut also interrupted two screens at the Latitude festival in July, and cinema trailers at the London Rooftop Film Clubs.