[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
pal means of bringing alcoholics into our Fellowship. In
A.A. offices, clubs, and homes, telephones ring constantly.
One voice says, I read a piece in the newspapers . . . ; an-
other, 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 exaggeration to say
that half of A.A.'s membership has been led to us through
channels like these.
The inquiring voices are not all alcoholics or their fami-
lies. Doctors read medical papers about Alcoholics
Anonymous and call for more information. Clergymen see
articles in their church journals and also make inquiries.
Employers learn that great corporations have set their ap-
proval upon us, and wish to discover what can be done
about alcoholism in their own firms.
Therefore, a great responsibility fell upon us to develop
the best possible public relations policy for Alcoholics
Anonymous. Through many painful experiences, we think
we have arrived at what that policy ought to be. It is the op-
180
T R A D I T I O N E L E V E N 181
posite in many ways of usual promotional practice. We
found that we had to rely upon the principle of attraction
rather than of promotion.
Let's see how these two contrasting ideas attraction
and promotion work out. A political party wishes to win
an election, so it advertises the virtues of its leadership to
draw votes. A worthy charity wants to raise money; forth-
with, its letterhead shows the name of every distinguished
person whose support can be obtained. Much of the politi-
cal, economic, and religious life of the world is dependent
upon publicized leadership. People who symbolize causes
and ideas fill a deep human need. We of A.A. do not ques-
tion that. But we do have to soberly face the fact that being
in the public eye is hazardous, especially for us. By temper-
ament, nearly every one of us had been an irrepressible
promoter, and the prospect of a society composed almost
entirely of promoters was frightening. Considering this ex-
plosive factor, we knew we had to exercise self-restraint.
The way this restraint paid off was startling. It resulted
in more favorable publicity of Alcoholics Anonymous than
could possibly have been obtained through all the arts and
abilities of A.A.'s best press agents. Obviously, A.A. had to
be publicized somehow, so we resorted to the idea that it
would be far better to let our friends do this for us. Precisely
that has happened, to an unbelievable extent. Veteran news-
men, trained doubters that they are, have gone all out to
carry A.A.'s message. To them, we are something more
than the source of good stories. On almost every newsfront,
the men and women of the press have attached themselves
to us as friends.
182 T R A D I T I O N E L E V E N
In the beginning, the press could not understand our re-
fusal of all personal publicity. They were genuinely baffled
by our insistence upon anonymity. Then they got the point.
Here was something rare in the world a society which
said it wished to publicize its principles and its work, but
not its individual members. The press was delighted with
this attitude. Ever since, these friends have reported A.A.
with an enthusiasm which the most ardent members would
find hard to match.
There was actually a time when the press of America
thought the anonymity of A.A. was better for us than some
of our own members did. At one point, about a hundred of
our Society were breaking anonymity at the public level.
With perfectly good intent, these folks declared that the
principle of anonymity was horse-and-buggy stuff, some-
thing appropriate to A.A.'s pioneering days. They were sure
that A.A. could go faster and farther if it availed itself of
modern publicity methods. A.A., they pointed out, included
many persons of local, national, or international fame. Pro-
vided they were willing and many were why shouldn't
their membership be publicized, thereby encouraging oth-
ers to join us? These were plausible arguments, but happily
our friends of the writing profession disagreed with them.
The Foundation* wrote letters to practically every news
outlet in North America, setting forth our public relations
policy of attraction rather than promotion, and emphasizing
Since that time, editors and rewrite men have repeatedly
deleted names and pictures of members from A.A. copy;
frequently, they have reminded ambitious individuals of
A.A.'s anonymity policy. They have even sacrificed good
T R A D I T I O N E L E V E N 183
stories to this end. The force of their cooperation has cer-
tainly helped. Only a few A.A. members are left who
deliberately break anonymity at the public level.
This, in brief, is the process by which A.A.'s Tradition
Eleven was constructed. To us, however, it represents far
more than a sound public relations policy. It is more than a
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]