What do you guys think about this?
No association. No formality. No governing body. No central control. It all would go against the foundation tenets of Bitcoin. The trade off for that freedom is that there is no single message to refute the FUD or bad press. That's OK. It's the individual adoption of each us that stands up against the negative press. Our individual action gives the community strength.
This is the answer I would have said also. Anyway, no need to do that apparently. Trying to put bitcoin in a box is a step backward from the original vision of the great Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoin became famous and trusted as it is right now. Why try to disrupt the growth with an association? That is trying to reshape bitcoin, which is not good at all.
I had the same thoughts while I was reading the OP - that creating an association would defeat the purpose of Bitcoin's decentralization. Some people have invested and used Bitcoin precisely for this reason, because it is decentralized. The creation of an association allow a group of individuals to control and regulate Bitcoin. Bitcoin's "mysteriousness" is a reason why some people choose to buy it. I don't think it needs a "positive association" for it to attract more users and investors, but the different characteristics it has simply makes it worth investing.
Maybe you're looking at wrong place because I've been seeing publications that are both good and bad - in fact, Bitcoin's popularity has been continually increasing.