Div6
8th August 2008, 07:10 AM
http://www.portlandmercury.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=862344
In the mid-1980s, more than ever before, television advertising was about big budgets and excess. Bucking that trend was Scientologist and marketing whiz Jeff Hawkins, whose understated, minimalist TV ads for L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics helped launch the book onto the best-seller list—and arguably sparked a worldwide interest in the religion.
Hawkins' ads featured simple questions like, "Why are you unhappy?" in white print against a black background, backed by edgy music supplied by Hawkins' friends, and finally, a shot of the Dianetics book splashed against a volcano. The ads cost around $2,000 to make, yet within months of their first nationwide appearance, Dianetics made the New York Times Best Seller List for the first time since its initial publication in 1950—and a special commemorative edition of the book was printed to mark the occasion.
Hawkins estimates he made more than $200 million for the church in his 35 years of marketing Dianetics. Nevertheless, he ultimately paid for his success by being thrown out of the church in 2005. Now living in Portland, Hawkins is writing a book about his experiences in Scientology.
And boy, is he pissed....
"Batshit Crazy"
Hawkins joined the church of Scientology in Los Angeles in 1967.
"People ask me, 'Was [Scientology founder] L. Ron Hubbard a genius or a con man?'" says Hawkins. "And I say, 'Yes, he was.'"
"I got into Scientology because it was kinda weird," he says. "I was a hippie at the time in the late '60s, and I'd done the whole drug thing, the whole LSD thing, and so 'weird' was not an issue with me—you know what I'm saying?"
As he worked his way around the world, doing stints at the church's Edinburgh and Copenhagen branches, Hawkins was exposed to more and more weirdness. In 1971 he was invited aboard L. Ron Hubbard's ship, Apollo, where he met the Scientology leader and was given the mission of marketing and disseminating the church to the masses, Hawkins says.
At the time, Hubbard had established his own "photography organization" to promote the church—which Hawkins claims consisted of Hubbard dressing up in a khaki suit, pith helmet, and ascot scarf, and staging bizarre photo shoots on beaches around the world whenever Apollo would dock. Hawkins also alleges that Hubbard was always accompanied by what he called his "messengers": stunning, provocatively dressed young women.
"He'd establish these sets, somebody would write a script, and L. Ron Hubbard would take these photographs," says Hawkins. "The whole thing would look terrible. But of course you could never say anything negative about Hubbard's work."
As a live-in member of Scientology's Sea Organization—which was decamped to dry land in the late '70s but maintained its naval theme—Hawkins says he was able to reach Operating Thetan Level Four: the fourth of eight levels of psychological "clearance" in Scientology. Hawkins was allegedly able to do so without paying the customary $250,000 he would've had to pay had he been a "public" Scientologist (someone from the outside world).
Hawkins says Hubbard told him that Earth is a prison planet, and we're all trapped here. What's more, the citizens of the galaxy have also been put here and hypnotized by an intergalactic dictator named "Xenu," and that we are all simply dramatizing the incidents we perceive to be reality. "When you're in, when you believe in it, you think 'Oh, he's this amazing genius who's unlocked these secrets,' and it makes a kind of odd sense," Hawkins admits. "But the minute you break that kind of conditioning, and you really look at it, you go, 'That's absolutely batshit crazy.'"
Continued at link...
In the mid-1980s, more than ever before, television advertising was about big budgets and excess. Bucking that trend was Scientologist and marketing whiz Jeff Hawkins, whose understated, minimalist TV ads for L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics helped launch the book onto the best-seller list—and arguably sparked a worldwide interest in the religion.
Hawkins' ads featured simple questions like, "Why are you unhappy?" in white print against a black background, backed by edgy music supplied by Hawkins' friends, and finally, a shot of the Dianetics book splashed against a volcano. The ads cost around $2,000 to make, yet within months of their first nationwide appearance, Dianetics made the New York Times Best Seller List for the first time since its initial publication in 1950—and a special commemorative edition of the book was printed to mark the occasion.
Hawkins estimates he made more than $200 million for the church in his 35 years of marketing Dianetics. Nevertheless, he ultimately paid for his success by being thrown out of the church in 2005. Now living in Portland, Hawkins is writing a book about his experiences in Scientology.
And boy, is he pissed....
"Batshit Crazy"
Hawkins joined the church of Scientology in Los Angeles in 1967.
"People ask me, 'Was [Scientology founder] L. Ron Hubbard a genius or a con man?'" says Hawkins. "And I say, 'Yes, he was.'"
"I got into Scientology because it was kinda weird," he says. "I was a hippie at the time in the late '60s, and I'd done the whole drug thing, the whole LSD thing, and so 'weird' was not an issue with me—you know what I'm saying?"
As he worked his way around the world, doing stints at the church's Edinburgh and Copenhagen branches, Hawkins was exposed to more and more weirdness. In 1971 he was invited aboard L. Ron Hubbard's ship, Apollo, where he met the Scientology leader and was given the mission of marketing and disseminating the church to the masses, Hawkins says.
At the time, Hubbard had established his own "photography organization" to promote the church—which Hawkins claims consisted of Hubbard dressing up in a khaki suit, pith helmet, and ascot scarf, and staging bizarre photo shoots on beaches around the world whenever Apollo would dock. Hawkins also alleges that Hubbard was always accompanied by what he called his "messengers": stunning, provocatively dressed young women.
"He'd establish these sets, somebody would write a script, and L. Ron Hubbard would take these photographs," says Hawkins. "The whole thing would look terrible. But of course you could never say anything negative about Hubbard's work."
As a live-in member of Scientology's Sea Organization—which was decamped to dry land in the late '70s but maintained its naval theme—Hawkins says he was able to reach Operating Thetan Level Four: the fourth of eight levels of psychological "clearance" in Scientology. Hawkins was allegedly able to do so without paying the customary $250,000 he would've had to pay had he been a "public" Scientologist (someone from the outside world).
Hawkins says Hubbard told him that Earth is a prison planet, and we're all trapped here. What's more, the citizens of the galaxy have also been put here and hypnotized by an intergalactic dictator named "Xenu," and that we are all simply dramatizing the incidents we perceive to be reality. "When you're in, when you believe in it, you think 'Oh, he's this amazing genius who's unlocked these secrets,' and it makes a kind of odd sense," Hawkins admits. "But the minute you break that kind of conditioning, and you really look at it, you go, 'That's absolutely batshit crazy.'"
Continued at link...