Scientology a Rose Parade 'sponsor'?
A Pasadena friend who is a longtime (inactive) member of the Tournament of Roses just wrote me: "Larry, I was really appalled to see that the Rose Parade was sponsored by the Church of Scientology! This implies validity to the cult and at the same time defames the City of Pasadena as a naive and uncultured or uneducated place. ... If they wish to enter a float ... so be it. But sponsorship imparts collusion and partnership."
Intrigued, and knowing that only Honda -- and that, for the first time this year -- is the official sponsor of the Rose Parade, I checked it out.
Sponsor? Nope. Some of the church's bloggers think it was a sponsor, but they got duped. What the church, which has a big new presence on South Raymond Avenue in the Braley Building, really did was to buy an ad that ran for a few seconds at the end of KTLA's telecast, which is famously done without commercials during the parade itself. And even some Scientology officials may be duped, believing that Channel 5 is the "official" television station for the parade, and so that means by placing an ad there it qualifies as a "sponsor," as at least one church member raves about on a blog posting.
The little ad is a logo that reads: "Scientology. Know yourself. Know life."
What's next -- a float sponsored by the Lutheran Hour?