Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) has blurred the lettering across its latest set of billboards, in a campaign created to mirror life through the eyes of someone struggling with their relationship with alcohol.
Each blurred-out headline contains two As which have been sharply bought into focus, representing the clarity AA can provide to those facing alcohol addiction.
Notably, the visuals – which will launch on 1 July to coincide with Alcohol Awareness Week – also contain no logo. They will appear again later in the year, culminating with a five-week run between Boxing Day and the end of January 2025.
The new text-only posters have been designed by The Raised Eyebrow Society and will appear across digital billboards throughout the UK as part of JC Deceaux’s Community Channel programme.
“We believe the target audience will understand the two A’s represent Alcoholics Anonymous, given the context of the messages,” said The Raised Eyebrow Society co-founder and creative director Pete Cain.
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“AA is the brand, so adding the logo which is essentially just another two As seemed superfluous. It makes the posters stand out as well which is prerequisite for any poster to be effective.”
The absence of the logo also embodies the organisation’s founding principle of anonymity, with the campaign now being referred to as AA’s anonymous ad campaign.
The posters contain 30 different headlines to appeal to a wide range of people, with upbeat messaging such as ‘LeArn to live without Alcohol’, ‘You Are not Alone’, ‘Alcohol isn’t the Answer’ and ‘WhAt hAve you got to lose?’.
“We set out to create a campaign that respectfully aligns with Alcoholic Anonymous principles and traditions. We also wanted to deliver positive messaging. Addiction-related campaigns are often shaming and negative,” said Cain.
“As we dug deeper, it became apparent the reasons people don’t seek help are multiple and complex, so a single message wouldn’t resonate with everyone in the target audience.”
18 Comments. Leave new
The more I look at this, the more I REALLY like the concept. Very effective.
AA is anonymous not invisible.
AA is the name of our fellowship, logo or not.
Well done.
No contact number, no use of copyright circle and triangle!
Advertisement or awareness?
Terrible advert but awesome awareness especially on alcohol awareness week!
Well done to those involved, great efforts.
Not sure what to think to be honest, I must keep an open mind. Keep it simple.
If they raise awareness and help people like me, who am I to criticise?
What do you actually think the role of public information is? Do you honestly think schools, GP surgery’s, universities are reaching out to us or us reaching out to them! We don’t go to promote anything because guess what, if you don’t drink or don’t suffer from Alcoholism AA is a pretty boring place.
Does the Jack Alexander article not prove anything! AA didn’t implode as a result it flourished!
Is the negativity again coming from those who do NO service in AA but have a massive opinion on everything.
Go to your sponsor if you have a problem with it.
This awareness program has done one thing and that is to ask a question
“What is AA?”
WITHOUT its legions of well-wishers, A.A.could never have grown as it has. Throughout the world, immense and favorable publicity of every description has been the principal means of bringing alcoholics into our Fellow- ship. In A.A. offices, clubs, and homes, telephones ring constantly. One voice says, “I read a piece in the news- papers..”; another, “We heard a radio program…”; and still another, “We saw a moving picture…” or “We saw something about A.A. on television…” It is no exaggera- tion to say that half of A.A.’s membership has been led to us through channels like these.
AA is a fellowship, not a brand.
Wonderful campaign to raise awareness of AA. Well done to all involved!
Hopefully it has the desired effect of reaching still suffering alcoholics out there and helping them towards finding a solution.
Love it!
AA is a fellowship, not a brand. You are advertising a fellowship. Our logo, the circle of Unity holding the triangle of Unity, Service and Recovery, protects our message, so that all we do and offer is in alignment with our twelve fellowship traditions, unique to us. Without the logo, it’s not AA, it’s something else.
This is absolutely brilliant well done everyone involved.
Please everyone else remember that AA is not anonymous but its members are.
And this is an awareness campaign.
Tradition 12 – “We think A.A. ought to avoid sensational advertising. Our names and pictures as A.A. members ought not be broadcast, filmed, or publicly printed. Our public relations should be guided by the principle of attraction rather than promotion. There is never need to praise ourselves. We feel it better to let our friends recommend us” this needs to be changed as it goes against the tradition, advertising and promoting rather than attraction. This also opens up a discussion which is not what AA is about.
AA is not anonymous. It’s not some sort of secret . The people who attend are, yes they keep their anonymity if they choose.
AA is attraction and this well thought out awareness is completely appropriate for this time and society we live in.
It’s also not new. AA throughout its history has produced literature and posters .
Excellent work
The artwork is great
What fantastic timing to coincide with Alcohol Awareness week.
Great job x
Having been in the fellowship for 40 years I understand the more ‘purist’ approach, and comments referring to branding. However I have to be open minded. It is a very diffent world to that of the late 30’s. AA aims to attract people to seek help in dealing with the dreadful illness that is alcoholism. The only requirement for membership……..
I came across a stall in my local market, it was filled with leaflets and banners with the AA name and a contact number, within 15 minutes I was in a meeting of AA and finally found my people. I’m still sober, I kept my kids and the marriage is on the mend.
Thank you to those who did this for me and thank you for been so public!
‘Obviously we had to publicize the fellowship ….’ Bill Wilson. Twelve steps and twelve traditions. Tradition eleven.
Fabulous so pleased to see this – if it helps anyone in trouble then all there can be is Gratitude – it’s 2024 ! It’s a different tact but the intention is only for the good – let’s be glad …..
Can’t believe this got passed at conference – absence of the.copyrighted logo indicates we show no reverence to the legacies of recovery, unity and service.
We don’t have to compete with anyone – just be reliably available on a weekly basis at our groups to carry the AA message through our example.
The phrase ‘twos and threes and fives of us” is as relevant today as when it was written in 1938. It is as fundamental today.
Groups have members who work together towards tradition five and our primary purpose.
We will not benefit, and neither is the newcomer alcoholic from this appalling move into mass promotion.
People get to us when they are ready.
What a sad world you must live in. If this campaign saves 1 life it is a total success.