Wow: TWENTY new billboards targeting Scientology going up in LA

A little more than a year ago, the Aftermath Foundation put up a billboard targeting Scientology just outside its Los Angeles downtown compound.

Within a day Scientology had positioned a scissor lift to obscure the billboard, and then just a couple of days later they frightened ClearChannel into pulling it down.

Well, now, the renamed Michael J. Rinder Aftermath Foundation has come back in a big way, and this time they are putting up twenty billboards about leaving Scientology around the city of Los Angeles.

As of last night, 13 of them had already been installed, with the rest scheduled to go up this morning.

Wow!

It was former Scientologist Phil Jones who in 2016 first hit on the idea of putting up a billboard in LA to reach church members who might be thinking of leaving the organization. He was also involved in last year’s effort by the Aftermath Foundation and this year’s big move.

“The purpose of these billboards is to provide a channel for those wanting to leave Scientology who either don't know how or don’t have the resources to do so. The Aftermath Foundation is set up to assist those needing help in establishing themselves outside of the influence of Scientology,” Phil says.

“This project was set up over the past few months, with most of the heavy lifting being done by Alex Barnes-Ross and Katherine Olsen. I only played a very small part in bringing the contract to completion. These are slightly smaller billboards than the larger ones we’ve mostly done, with 20 of these new ones set up in the area surrounding Scientology buildings in Los Angeles.

“There are three different messages, one that we did previously, one with Mike Rinder, and one with Claire Headley. Hopefully the message will get through to as many Scientologists, especially staff and Sea Org, as possible.”

“Scientology is going to need more scissor lifts,” Phil added.

Scientology itself recently went on a large push for publicity, putting up billboards and taking out television ads, and this in part motivated the foundation to respond with this new billboard campaign.

“Scientology keeps a tight grip on its members and asserts complete control over their lives by restricting their access to the outside world,” says Claire Headley. “When I escaped from their International Headquarters I had nothing but the clothes on my back, I had nowhere to go and nobody to turn to. There are more Scientologists in the LA area than anywhere else in the world, and we want to make sure they know the Aftermath Foundation will help them if they choose to leave.”

Here’s a map showing the locations of the billboards around the city…

And photos of the actual installations are starting to come in…

One more tidbit we wanted to relate. Claire sent us the latest newsletter from the foundation, and that’s when we learned that for more than a year now its executive director has been Bruce Hines, the Colorado physicist and former top Scientology auditor who takes part in our weekly Group Therapy podcast. We didn’t know!

Congratulations, professor!

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