Here’s why letters A, O and B are disappearing from landmarks and signboards in UK

Hint: A brilliant marketing campaign is behind the mysterious disappearance.

#MissingType, UK blood donors, UK missing letters, UK blood group, NHS Blood and Transplant, NHS blood donors, NHS #MissingType campaign

Odeon Cinema dimmed out it’ ‘O’s at a theatre in London (Photo courtesy: Twitter/@ODEONCinemas)

A clever advertising campaign, albeit for a serious cause, is behind the disappearance of the letters A, O and B from sign boards, landmarks and even newspaper mastheads in the UK.

The campaign #MissingType led by NHS Blood and Transplant aims at creating awareness about dwindling blood donors for A, O and B blood groups — the ones which are supposedly in short supply in the UK.

The country is observing National Blood Week from June 8 to 14 and the campaign coordinators hope that more and more people would turn out to donate blood this year. The NHS said that the number of blood donors in the last decade in the UK has seen a fall of over 40%. More than 2 lakh new donors are required to replace those who cannot donate blood anymore.

We need 204,000 new donors of all blood types this year. Could you be the #MissingType? pic.twitter.com/HSiO80Ji9J

— Give l dNHS (@GiveBloodNHS) June 9, 2015

Whether that target is achievable, only time will tell. But as far as the campaign is concerned, it’s got an animated start. From small store owners to large and influential brands and industry groups, the campaign has struck a major chord everywhere.

Here’s how the world-famous Tottenham Spurs football team pitched in.

We’ve lost our As, Bs and Os in support of @GiveBloodNHS, help replace them by giving blood #MissingType pic.twitter.com/Keww0S5p5V

— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) June 9, 2015

So did the Daily Mirror, which put out its masthead, without the letters of course.

Noticed anything different about the @DailyMirror front page today? This is why: http://t.co/jsq4bQ6Yih #missingtyp pic.twitter.com/fqN2xOLyvA

— Daily Mirror (@DailyMirror) June 8, 2015

UK’s leading energy supplier scraped the letters off too from its vans.

#MissingType A, B or O? Support #NationalBloodWeek and @givebloodnhs. More details here: http://t.co/HnW6sigFJj pic.twitter.com/g8fz8YH7Aq

— British Gas (@BritishGas) June 9, 2015

The London Pride, considered the city’s premium and favourite beer brand, gave the campaign a personal twist.

Give a pint. You could have the #MissingType. @GiveBloodNHS. http://t.co/32lpSOX4lM pic.twitter.com/zhrb0ikO8c

— London Pride (@London_Pride) June 8, 2015

The bookstores joined in too.