In the 1960s and 1970s, mass campaigns were the dominant model of adult literacy provision, especially in countries of the Global South. After a long absence, there is now a revival of international interest in this model. This paper looks back on the earlier history of mass campaigns and the geopolitical reasons for their rejection, to help make sense of the problems encountered by more recent attempts to mount literacy campaigns in Timor-Leste and Australia. This analysis problematizes the concept of innovation, by identifying its association with a neo-liberal ideology of economic development which continues to produce adult literacy policy and programs which are ineffective at a national or global level.