Maybe this belongs in some other forum because I’m not sure we can get a factual answer unless we have some Scientologists here.
I’ve been seeing a lot a Scientology commercials lately, they only mention Scientology at the end of the commercial, there are also similar commercials for The Way to Happiness which turns out to be another Scientology organization and they also had an infomercial on late at night recently. So what’s going on with the heavy duty advertising campaigns?
Great - now I’ve got one on this page.
Er…what was the question?
Why wouldn’t Scientology advertise? They want new members (and their money) just like any other business. Waiting until the end to mention who they are prevents people from prejudging before they hear the message.
I’m not surprised that they’re advertising, just that they are advertising so much. It seems a bit excessive and a little desperate. I’m wondering if recruits are down since the whole Tom Cruise debacles and Travolta’s son’s death and all the accusations that Scientology may have prevented him from getting proper care.
I was especially annoyed about all the ads because I saw a lot of them last night and ended up having a nightmare about Scientology. It’s bad enough that I constantly get mail and emails from them because I made the mistake of buying a Hubbard scifi book from Bridge publications 20 years ago, now they are invading my tv and dreams.
They used to be able to keep their strangest beliefs under wraps until a person was so invested in Scientology that they were willing to buy into anything. With the advent of the internet anybody can do an online search and find a world full of their crazy ideas. They’re also heavily ridiculed in some aspects of the media that are popular with younger people. How are you gonna lure in unsuspecting college kids with a free personality test after they’ve heard about thetans and Xenu from 4chan or South Park? I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re getting desperate for new blood. I certainly hope they are.
I don’t know how you could prove it though. I don’t think you can trust them to give honest numbers regarding their membership.
I think the celeb cameos are wearing thin and they’ve got to hit up a new market strategy. They’ve also tried the John-Travolta-Sci-Fi-Pic route and that failed, too. Now they’re using the LDS method… Here’s a feel good commercial; join our church!
Looks like they subcontracted Tyler Durden for mine : “You are not your name, your job or the clothes you wear. Scientology.”
Fitting, too, considering they’ve been known to host their own, small scale, personnalized Project Mayhems 
One of the primary audiences for the advertising is, strangely enough, existing Scientologists. That way the cult can point and say: “Look at all we are doing to clear the planet! Now dig deep so we can keep on a roll!”
Nevermind that the org has the same thirty cars it always has in the parking lot, and even the recruiters are bored. Here, on Hollywood Blvd, they have a “Test Center” where they give “Stress Tests” and “Personality Tests”. Presumably this would be where new prospects would be “Body Routed”. Not much going on there on any given day. Reports are that the Tujunga org is pretty much out of business, they are looking for someone to take it over, and the Woodland hills office is a ghost town. They have a place in Pasadena, and I never see anyone go in there, same for Glendale. So they are pretty much not growing, and maybe even shrinking. The ad campaign will not change that. As someone mentioned, their space alien cat is out of the bag. People are up on what they are really about, and the only press they can ever get is when they, or one of their mental case celebs, screws up. Hey, Ms. Alley, if Scientology can give you sooper seekrit powerz that let you control matter, energy, space, and even time itself, how come it can’t help you take the goddamn fork out of your idiot mouth? Another big win for the “Tech”.
So it is inwardly directed propaganda to a certain extent. They aren’t growing, but they can look and act like they are, and give the faithful motivation. Christian preachers pull the same shtick. “Look at all the souls we are winning for Christ, thanks to your donations…” (cut to video of some child in Africa getting a bowl of rice)