Churchill Family Blasts Scientology Ads Featuring Wartime Leader

(MoneyWatch)  Two grandsons of Winston Churchill have complained that the Church of Scientology is wrongly using images of Britain's World War 2 leader to promote itself in ads. Scientology has upped its advertising activity this year, with a set of web ads and a bunch of spots on CNN. The ads are vague and noncommittal about what, exactly, Scientology stands for.

The Churchill ads promoted meetings in London, where Scientology is attempting to set up a celebrity center like the one it has in Los Angeles. One ad featured a bulldog-jowelled Churchill looking into the soul of the viewer, with a bunch of Spitfires zooming through searchlight beams in the background. "Their Finest Hour," the headline reads. The Independent:

The literary agency Curtis Brown, which represents several members of the Churchill family, has written to the church's London branch protesting at a range of advertising leaflets and posters that liken the Allied struggle against Nazi Germany to Scientology's efforts to recruit new members.

... The former prime minister's grandson and former Tory MP, also named Winston Churchill, said that he finds them "obnoxious" and "offensive."

"We have strong objections to the implication that our grandfather, if he were alive, would have something to do with Scientology. In fact, he wouldn't have touched an outfit like that with a bargepole.

Another grandson, Sir Nicholas Soames, also objected:

... Nicholas Soames told the Courier and Observer: "Organisations like the [British National Party] and the Scientologists have no right whatsoever to use my grandfather as a means to solicit and elicit support.

It's a storm in a teacup. The really interesting issue is why Scientology thinks its religion can be advertised like a package of laundry detergent, and whether consumers will buy it. Among the countries whose governments have refused to recognize Scientology are a religion are Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Belgium and the United Kingdom.

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