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Church of Scientology Runs Commercials on CNN

By Jim Edwards | Jun 16, 2009

The Church of Scientology has launched an ad campaign on CNN, according to Gawker.

The ad shows a bunch of white and Asian people lost in the anomie of everyday life — looking out of the window during a school exam, surrounded by a crowd at Grand Central in New York — as a thoughful voiceover intones:

We’re all looking for it … that unexplainable emptiness that can only be filled with one thing … the truth.

The ad will be examined closely in the agency business, which has its own connections to Scientology. Most prominently, former Leo Burnett chairman/chief creative officer Cheryl Berman was well-known as a Scientologist (and the subject of a large number of wacky web-based rumors.) Berman left the shop in 2006.

Gawker thinks the ad is “deeply creepy” and looks like an Effexor ad.

Writing personally, the most annoying thing about it is the scene where a man walks through a library, dragging his hands along a set of bookcases. “Some of us have been looking our whole lives,” the voiceover says. The implication of the imagery is that answers cannot be found in books, which are all the same. As such, the ads fuel that strong, strange strain in American culture which regards edukashun — facts generally and science specifically — with suspicion.

Other nations — notably the Chinese — don’t have these delusions. And they will become our bosses in about 30 years unless Americans become less delusional about books and facts.

Jim Edwards, a former managing editor of Adweek, has covered drug marketing at Brandweek for four years, and is a former Knight-Bagehot fellow at Columbia University's business and journalism schools. Follow him on Twitter or send him an email.

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  •  
    1

    JohnWilliams101

    06/16/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Church of Scientology Runs Commercials on CNN

    Wow! You are taking that ad way out of context. If you have eyes and ears and not trying to build gossip around the commercial and take it just as is, you will see that it is no different than any other religious ad you see on Gospel and other religious networks. Sad to see BNET follow the bandwagon on this one. What happen to the real news? When did gossip become news? If you do not know by now Gossip is idle talk or rumors, especially about the personal or private affairs of others. It forms one of the oldest and most common means of sharing (unproven) facts and views, but also has a reputation for the introduction of errors and other variations into the information transmitted. The term also carries implications that the news so transmitted (usually) has a personal or trivial nature, as opposed to normal conversation.

    Let's get back to the news. I really love your work Jim but "Other nations ? notably the Chinese ? don?t have these delusions. And they will become our bosses in about 30 years unless Americans become less delusional about books and facts." REALLY?!?! really? Let's get back to your amazing reporting skills.

    John Williams

  •  
    2

    S.Howard-Sarin

    06/16/09 | Report as spam

    Are there other religions running ads on CNN?

    I don't recall seeing any (though that may reflect on how memorable they are, rather than their presence). I think it would be vaguely creepy to see any religion advertising on a news network.

  •  
    3

    Fritz Swackhammer

    06/17/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Church of Scientology Runs Commercials on CNN

    Scientology is failing.

    From the mysterious deaths in it's membership:

    http://www.lisamcpherson.org/

    http://www.badcult.info/watd/

    To the defections of it's high level executives and long-term members:

    http://www.skeptictank.org/nl/nutl397.htm

    http://www.youtube.com/ToryMagoo44

    http://askthescientologist.blogspot.com/

    http://www.torymagoo.org/

    http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=28997

    And its totalitarian tactics and its policy of 'disconnection':

    http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/wakefield/us-12.html

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disconnection

    Plus the action of groups like Anonymous an the current prosecution of Scientology in the French courts
    are inflicting a death of ten thousand cuts on Scientology.

    That's why they are running a television blitz to make up the losses with 'raw meat'...Scientology's term for new non- Scientologists.

    Unfortunately for Scientology, anyone who has computer access can type in 'Scientology' on google and find things the 'Church'
    would rather you didn't know about.

    Scientology is failing.






  •  
    4

    Fritz Swackhammer

    06/17/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Church of Scientology Runs Commercials on CNN

    Scientology is failing.

    From the mysterious deaths in it's membership:

    http://www.lisamcpherson.org/

    http://www.badcult.info/watd/

    To the defections of it's high level executives and long-term members:

    http://www.skeptictank.org/nl/nutl397.htm

    http://www.youtube.com/ToryMagoo44

    http://askthescientologist.blogspot.com/

    http://www.torymagoo.org/

    http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=28997

    And its totalitarian tactics and its policy of 'disconnection':

    http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/wakefield/us-12.html

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disconnection

    Plus the action of groups like Anonymous and the current prosecution of Scientology in the French courts
    are inflicting a death of ten thousand cuts on Scientology.

    That's why they are running a television blitz to make up the losses with 'raw meat'...Scientology's term for new non- Scientologists.

    Unfortunately for Scientology, anyone who has computer access can type in 'Scientology' on google and find things the 'Church'
    would rather you didn't know about.

    Scientology is failing.






  •  
    5

    Fritz Swackhammer

    06/17/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Church of Scientology Runs Commercials on CNN

    Scientology Media Blitz to Counter Critics Seems Counter-Productive

    By Ryan Singel

    "The Church of Scientology is in the midst of a multi-million dollar media campaign that includes running ads on news sites, satellite dish networks, 37 cable stations, and even Wired.com ? a blitz that seems to have not so much won new friends or influenced people as stir up more animosity towards the group many consider nothing more than a greedy cult.

    typical video: ?You are not your name. You are not your job...You are not your fears. You are hope...You are a spirit that will never die...Scientology. Know yourself. Know life.?

    A typical reaction: ?Just saw a commercial for scientology. seriously? it claimed truth. i pray that nobody buys into that lie,? wrote HannaSheeps on Monday via Twitter.

    That reception is to be expected given the internet and Scientology are still fighting what might be the net?s longest running flame war, dating back to the early days of alt.religion.scientology news group. That bitter fight led to lawsuits, raids by the feds and criminal prosecutions of church critics. The criticism of the church has been the same for more than 15 years ? that it?s a cult which charges believers thousands of dollars for trainings and uses strong-arm tactics to keep members and critics in line. The church?s line hasn?t changed either ? we are misunderstood and we will use the law to silence critics.

    The Hatfields to the church?s McCoys are itself a cultish group of loosely-organized hackers known as Anonymous, which ?declared war? in January 2008 after the secretive religious group tried to suppress a creepy Tom Cruise video produced for Scientology members. After that incident the leaderless group organized online attacks, leaks of embarrassing internal church doctrine documents and protests outside of Scientology buildings around the country.

    A month ago a teen Anonymous member pleaded guilty in federal court to a computer hacking charge for his role in distributed denial-of-service attack that last year shuttered Church of Scientology websites. Two weeks ago Wikipedia banned the church from editing any articles.

    Mostly, media just stay away from the story or generally cast the organization in a bad light. Enter public relations and a checkbook. In what Church of Scientology spokesman Ingo Lehmann told wired.com was a reaction at least in part to the Anonymous campaigns, the church began a campaign of TV commercials and Flash ads on May 17 designed to lure eyeballs to scientology.org, where there are hundreds of videos and testimonials (though they don?t say really much about the Church?s teachings). It plans to keep running ads through the end of the year. Interested viewers can go see the ads for themselves

    http://thescientologyvideo.blogspot.com.

    Disconnect seems to play a big part in all of this: Lehmann sent out the Twitter screenshot in this article along with a press release about the campaign. He described the Tweeters as surprised. A better description might be that every Tweet in the screenshot was either offended or cynical.

    Our own experience was similar. Readers in Belgium and the UK tweeted us about scientology ads they saw on Wired.com last week and we responded that we had sold no ads to the church.

    On Wednesday, Cond? Nast Executive Director Josh Stinchcomb clarified that some Wired.com ads are sold through Google Adsense. The company does not comment on what advertisers appear on the site through that program, though this was apparently the source of the Scientology ads on Wired.com. Wired.com reserves the right to refuse to serve ads from Google Adsense buyers based on reader feedback, among other things.

    ?We do not publicly comment on which advertisers we allow or disallow, but do appreciate the comments from our readers and have reacted accordingly,? Stinchcomb said in a statement.

    The money flowing from Scientology into the economy may turn out to be the most productive thing to ever emerge from 4Chan, the infamous online image sharing site where internet memes like Lolcats are born and Anonymous members hang out while contemplating new, online mischief. Anonymous members who protest Scientology say they should not be confused with the bored denizens of image boards, and that their crusade against Scientology is born out of principles and concern for people they say the Church has brainwashed. The most recent noises target the Church?s upper echelon, Sea Org, which members pledge to join for a billion years.

    Not surprisingly, Lehmann disagrees about their motives.

    ?Some people just don?t have anything better to do,? Lehmann said. ?We have tried to communicate, but they have fun making noise and intimidating people.?

    http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/06/scientology-media-blitz-to-counter-critics-seems-counter-productive/

  •  
    6

    KevinOwen

    06/20/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Church of Scientology Runs Commercials on CNN


    Science??? [Psychiatry and Paychology] has failed to come up with any answers to mans problems, other than labelling and drugging every unwanted behaviour and sensation a person complains of.

    Top APA [American Psychiatric Association] Shrink Needs Lesson in Disease vs. Disorder
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

    Difference Between Disease and Disorder
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

    Psychiatry: No Cures No Science [4 mins]
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
    Psychiatrists openly admitting at the 2006 APA convention that they have no scientific tests to prove mental illness and have no cures for these unproven mental illnesses.

  •  
    7

    KevinOwen

    06/20/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Church of Scientology Runs Commercials on CNN

    Science??? [Psychiatry and Psychology] have failed to come up with any answers to mans problems, other than labelling and drugging every unwanted behaviour and sensation a person complains of.

    Top APA [American Psychiatric Association] Shrink Needs Lesson in Disease vs. Disorder
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

    Difference Between Disease and Disorder
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

    Psychiatry: No Cures No Science [4 mins]
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
    Psychiatrists openly admitting at the 2006 APA convention that they have no scientific tests to prove mental illness and have no cures for these unproven mental illnesses.

  •  
    8

    Fritz Swackhammer

    07/23/09 | Report as spam

    RE: Church of Scientology Runs Commercials on CNN

    WARNING: Scientology KILLS PEOPLE!

    "...If you are interested in learning about the lies and deception that surround Scientology's beliefs, this pamphlet is for you. If you are one of the few people who are considering Scientology, this will give you a brief view of their cosmology and help you decide if this is a group you wish to be associated with.

    And, if you are already a Scientologist planning on moving up the "bridge to total freedom", this document will give you a heads-up on what to expect.

    The story goes like this:

    75 million years ago, there was an alien galactic ruler named Xenu who was in charge of 76 planets in our sector of the galaxy, including planet Earth, whose name at that time was Teegeeack.

    All of the planets Xenu controlled were over-populated by, on average, 178 billion people. Social problems dictated that Xenu rid his sector of the galaxy of this overpopulation problem, so he developed a plan.

    Xenu sent out Tax Audit demands to all these billions of people.

    As each one entered the audit centers for the income tax inspections, the people were seized, held down and injected with a mixture of alcohol and glycol, and frozen. Then, all 13.5 trillion of these frozen people were put into spaceships that looked exactly like DC8 airplanes, except that the spaceships had rocket engines instead of propellers.

    Xenu's entire fleet of DC8-like spaceships then flew to planet Earth, where the frozen people were dumped in and around volcanoes in the Canary Islands and the Hawaiian Islands.

    When Xenu's Air Force had finished dumping the bodies into the volcanoes, hydrogen bombs were dropped into the volcanoes and the frozen space aliens were destroyed.

    However, Xenu's plan involved setting up electronic traps in Teegeeack's atmosphere which were designed to trap the souls or spirits of the dead space aliens.

    When the 13.5 trillion spirits were being blown around on the nuclear winds, the electronic traps worked like a charm and captured all the souls in the electronic, sticky fly-paper like traps.

    The spirits of the aliens were then taken to huge multiplex cinemas that Xenu had previously instructed his forces to build on Teegeeack.

    In these movie theaters the spirits had to spend many days watching special 3-D movies, the purpose of which was twofold:

    1) to implant into these spirits a false reality, i.e. the reality that WOGS (Hubbard's derisory term for anyone not a Scientologists) know on Earth today; and,

    2) to control these spirits for all eternity so that they could never cause trouble for Xenu in this sector of the Galaxy.

    During these films, many false pictures were implanted into these spirits, which resulted in the spirits believing in all the things that control mankind on Earth today, including religion.

    The concept of religion, including God, Christ, Mohammed, Moses etc., were all an implanted false reality that to this very minute is used to control WOGS on Earth.

    When the films ended and the souls left the cinema, they started to stick together in clusters of a few thousand and remained that way until mankind began to inhabit the Earth. Today on Earth all the spirits of these aliens have attached themselves to our bodies and are the root cause of the false reality that all but Scientology's "Homo Novis" or OT 8's on earth experience.

    It is the job of all Scientologists to remove this false reality from the world by auditing each and every space alien spirit and human on earth to CLEAR not only this planet but the universe. For those who oppose Scientology and stand in their way like the Lisa McPherson Trust and all Scientology critics, Scientology promises to do away with them "quietly and without sorrow".

    We have calculated that on average, each person on planet earth has 2,209 of these Body Thetans (BT's for short), Hubbard's term for the alien spirits, attached to you causing you and all mankind to be constrained by Xenu's false reality. The average cost for Scientology to OT 8 is a mere USD 360,000, meaning that each BT only costs USD 163 to clear. Now that is a bargain if there ever was one.

    Hubbard never said the overall cost to the planet would be cheap, but let's examine it. The planetary cost equation is as follows: 13.5 trillion spirits times USD 163 equals a mere USD 2,205,000,000,000,000.

    Just think about it -- USD 2.2 quadrillion -- WOW!, that's enough to keep Rear Admiral Miscavige, the current head of Scientology and Marty, his number two, in casino chips for a long time.

    To finish the story, the Loyal Officers of the Marcab Confederation finally discovered how evil Xenu was and overthrew him. He is now locked away in a mountain on one of the planets and kept in by a force-field powered by an eternal battery.

    Many Scientologists who have left from the highest levels of Scientology have told us that they have sat in a room at Scientology's Sandcastle building in Clearwater, Florida for 5-7 hours per day for up to 10 years, holding two asparagus cans together, attached to a primitive lie detector, talking all day to these dead space aliens.

    And guess what? You'll never ever finish talking to dead space aliens until you leave Scientology."

    http://www.holysmoke.org/cos/scientology-lies-and-deceives.htm

    You can see the OT3 story, (mentioned above ) written in Hubbard's own handwriting here:

    http://www.xenu.net/archive/OTIII-scholar/

    Scientology: Stick a fork into it...it's done!

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