Billymac75

Has anyone else heard an AA advertisement on the radio? I heard one the other day here in Denver, CO. I thought that was against their 11th tradition. First time I ever heard one before.

Rina

I'm surprised-I thought so too.

Soberwolf

i searched for AA adverts and found this http://youtu.be/-Ckj6ls_FTU

AA have done adverts im sure

Hawks

Attract people who have a drink problem they might want solved via the radio.

Promote the 12 step message at the meeting.

Hence you won't hear talk of the program / steps in the ads.

awuh1

I have never heard an advertisement for AA. However, I have heard public service announcements. I think this is entirely appropriate. From time to time I will hear someone in a meeting say they had never heard of AA and would have attended sooner if they had known.

Mountainmanbob

Not common
not common at all

Mountainman

MIRecovery

Very strange. From everything I know about AA this is walking on very thin ice.

Tradition 11: Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio and films.

Wonder if the commercial was endorsed by the AA Central Office

MsJax

I remember when I was young, probably back in the 70's, there were AA advertisements on television. I lived in the states but in a very remote area and we got one Canadian channel. I remember the last line of the commercial said "AA, it works".

FlyerFan

This is really to protect the people in the program. It's okay to do public service announcements as long as nobody's anonymity is broken. For example a bunch of us wouldn't go film a commercial showing our faces or names to advertise the program. That would be extremely bad. But I think general public service announcements are a good way to get the word out there that it does exist and it is available if someone is seeking help. You are right though, it is a thin line and it can be very easy to cross.

Boleo

Are you sure it was "AA" that they were talking about?

There are hundreds of rehabs that use "12 step" recovery that are not affiliated with AA.

keithj

This is entirely within AA Traditions. The General Service Office produces a number of both audio and video public service announcements, as well as videos targeted for the professional community.

Tradition 11 suggests personal anonymity at the public level.

CAPTAINZING2000

I've seen several papers with meetings listed in community events.

MIRecovery

But doesn't this fall into the promotion category? Or am I missing something?

keithj

It's worth looking at the long form of the Traditions, as well as the history, when discussing issues like this:

Our relations with the general public should be characterized by personal anonymity. 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.

With that in mind, you would never see an AA advertisement that proclaims AA to be the best recovery in the world or indicating that AA is superior to anything else. Simply making the public aware that AA exists to help those with a drinking problem has been deemed as entirely appropriate.

Who deemed it that way? You did. Along with every other member of AA who participates in the General Service structure. It's been very helpful for me to start seeing AA as "us" instead of "them." AA would not be what it is today if not for the 'promotion' by the Jack Alexander Saturday Evening Post story and the Plain Dealer set of stories. Those told the nation at large that AA existed, which is all the PSAs are doing today.

desypete

we advertize aa in library's, dr surgery's, hospitals, police stations the list is endless were aa posters go up that are clearly advertizing so what is the difference ?

we had a hot debate in our local inter group over posters that were released by gso that shown a park bench and the message was to anyone reading, that they don't have to go down that far or words to that effect

anyway we just posted them around as per normal so what is the difference between an ad on a radio or a poster that we use all over the place ?

LBrain

only a bunch of drunks would debate something like this... I've been hearing AA ads on the radio for quite some time - so what? They have done TV spots also, mostly outside of the USofA. When I first heard one I got my panties in a bunch too. But I got over it. They are public service announcements.

I'd be more concerned about our government providing antidotes for people who OD on certain drugs. Yes, my tax dollars are going to fund a program that will provide and injection for FAMILIES of addicts in case they overdose. Tis true!

Why don't they provide my wife with and AED in case I have a fkg heart attack?


AA is the largest nonprofit in the world. Yet you can't deduct your contributions as charitable contributions. oops...

keithj

You can deduct AA contributions. According to the US tax law, all cash donations to any charitable non-profit must be verifiable in the form of a check or other receipted donation. AA is no different than any other non-profit in this regard.

Fly N Buy

As I'm sure many AA'ers, as I started going to meetings more and more I became interested in the history of the program and it's evolution.

From my understanding the exposure of the program in the Saturday Evening Post article on March 1st, 1941 was a huge boon to AA. I have read that posting pictures in the article were highly controversial, but the Post would not do the article without them.

Thought this was relevant in discussion of the thread.....

Alcoholics Anonymous : The story behind the Jack Alexander article on A.A.

"Alcoholics Anonymous" by Jack Alexander, Saturday Evening Post, March 1, 1941

From what I read, the traditions were written and published in Grapevine April, 1946 and adopted at convention in 1950.

Hawks

My group was involved in radio ads.

All legit, signed off on by GSO.

Carlotta

AA has advertised before on public transportation.