Premier League football clubs have promised to tackle the problem of antisemitism in their grounds "head-on", following the launch of a hard-hitting film that will be shown before matches.

Chelsea are planning to show the film, which features the likes of Frank Lampard and Ledley King, before this month's home match against Tottenham Hotspur, despite fears that it could spark outbreaks of the kind of chanting it seeks to stamp out. But Kick It Out, the organisation that has waged a long and largely successful battle against racism in football and the clubs involved, has resolved to open up the debate around the use of the term "yid".

More controversially, the film's makers have called for a "zero-tolerance approach" to Spurs fans using the term to define themselves. Chelsea, West Ham United and Arsenal fans have been singled out as particularly to blame for antisemitic chanting, while Spurs fans have in recent years responded by chanting "Yid Army" about themselves.

The new film, The Y-Word, features players making it clear that the word is as offensive and racist as "the n-word" and "the p-word". In the film, Lampard says: "If at today's game you fancy joining in with what you think is a bit of harmless chanting, think again.

The 90-second film features unidentified fans singing "Spurs are on their way to Auschwitz" and chanting "Sieg Heil" on their way to a match. "The film is not intended to censor football fans," said David Baddiel, the comedian and writer who made the film with his brother. "It's simply to raise awareness that the y-word is – and has been for many, many years – a race-hate word. It's our belief that some football fans may not even realise this, and the film is designed therefore to inform and raise debate."

Baddiel said he had been partly inspired to make the film by an argument with a fellow Chelsea fan. "This particular incident was the worst that was directed around us. It was sheer, straightforward, violent antisemitism. No stewards did anything, no one around us did anything."

But he added that many fans were not even aware it was a racist term: "Some people are slightly flabbergasted when you tell them that yid is a racist word and that it makes me feel uncomfortable as a Jew."

Chelsea are believed to have agreed to show the film on the big screens at Stamford Bridge before the match against Tottenham on 30 April, subject to technical checks and discussions with the matchday operations team.

The Chelsea chairman, Bruce Buck, said the club had been "campaigning about issues around antisemitism for many years".

Lord Ouseley, the chair of Kick It Out, said it was important to be clear about what was acceptable and what wasn't.

"Hate crime is on the increase throughout England, all the evidence shows it. We're very conscious that we need to establish a bottom line about what is and isn't acceptable," he said.

"It's a vicious situation we're in and this is one aspect of it. It isn't about targeting Jewish fans who are proud of who they are and want to assert themselves. But as part of that education process they need to understand how they are contributing to those who are already negative."

The Spurs executive director Donna Cullen said the initial focus should be on the opposition supporters using antisemitic language rather than the club's own fans who have sought to reclaim it.

"It is unthinkable and wholly unacceptable that, in this day and age, supporters are subjected to antisemitic abuse such as hissing to imitate the gas chambers used during the Holocaust in the Second World War," she said.

"We look forward to an informed and proper debate with Kick It Out, stakeholders and the key authorities to raise greater awareness and put in place the stringent measures needed to stop antisemitic abuse in football."