Can AA Be Seen Without Being PromotionalCan AA Be Seen Without Being Promotional
Alcoholics Alive!
Shank and Wayne talk through AA’s modern Public Information tools—podcasts, apps, ads and surveys—while questioning whether these really help carry the message. Their chat mixes humour with serious concerns about costs, priorities and keeping the focus on face-to-face recovery and the AA programme itself.
1:06:24•16 Apr 2026
Can AA Stay Attractive Without Turning Into an Advertisement?
Episode Overview
- Public Information efforts like PSAs, podcasts and YouTube are questioned for cost and real impact on helping alcoholics.
- The Meeting Guide app is highlighted as a particularly useful and widely used tool for finding meetings.
- Draft membership survey questions about age, gender and race raise concerns about focus and possible bias.
- Anonymity is often misunderstood, especially online, and needs clearer guidance rather than fear-based thinking.
- Meetings alone aren’t the “medicine”; the steps, a spiritual solution and helping others remain central to lasting recovery.
“If your meetings are your medicine, you’re in trouble.”
Curious about how others manage their sobriety within AA’s traditions while still embracing modern tech? This Alcoholics Alive! episode brings Shank and Wayne together to chat through whether Alcoholics Anonymous can be visible in the wider culture without turning into a sales pitch. Aimed at AA members, service junkies, and anyone sober-curious about how the fellowship presents itself publicly, the conversation has a laid-back, slightly cheeky tone.
They walk through upcoming Public Information items for the General Service Conference: PSAs, the GSO podcast, YouTube, Google ads, the Meeting Guide app, AA’s website, social media policy, and the next membership survey. You’ll hear them question the usefulness of certain tools (“I don’t think they do anything to help anybody get sober”) while praising others, especially the Meeting Guide app with its 1.9 million users.
They keep circling a core concern: is AA drifting into targeted marketing and demographic chasing instead of sticking to carrying a simple message to alcoholics who want help? Survey drafts about age, gender and race, and plans for podcasts and social media, raise honest questions about priorities and costs.
At the same time, they stress that face-to-face contact is still where recovery really happens: “About 98% of us need face-to-face human interaction to get better.” There’s plenty of humour too, from riffing on Google grants to imagining writing a pamphlet for an alcoholic AI bot.
The “Meeting Shrapnel” segment pokes fun at sayings like “Meetings are my medicine” and “Just because you’re in a garage doesn’t mean you’re a car”, while gently steering back to the steps, God, and helping others as the real solution. If you’ve ever wondered whether AA’s digital footprint is helping or just getting in the way, this chat might get you asking: what actually carries the message in your own recovery life?
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