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Here is a similar piece of content, from GE, makers of nuclear weapons and microwave ovens and former owners of NBC (now Kabletown) http://www.theatlantic.com/sponsored/ideas-roundtable-workin...
http://cl.ly/image/0W1d2f3P0L25
That's pretty darn clear that it's a sponsored piece of content.
It must really pay to start a religion and I guess in addition to emptying my congregant's pockets, there are some nice tax breaks for both the 503c and the reverends.
Can I interest anyone in an investment? I'll start the church of fleeciology and will take the first 12 people to wire one meeeeellion dollars into my Cayman Islands account as my board of trustees. Your share of the earnings will be 6%.
Our chuches won't have steeples, but there are plenty of sheeples that we can turn into paupers. There's no end to what a charismatic speaker can earn in today's market, so be the first to sign up now!
So they're essentially letting Scientology use The Atlantic's "brand" to trick people into reading this? (Yes, I know it says Sponsored Post) This, on top of http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4108929 and http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffbercovici/2012/06/13/reddit-... makes me pretty weary of trusting anything I read on TheAtlantic ever again
You have to wonder what it says about a group that they aren't afraid that their potential converts would find it weird that they need to pay for people to say how awesome they are. Edit: fixed typo
UPDATE: Mat Mullen, Disqus employee got a comment past the moderator (maybe he knows someone): This is the weirdest thing I've ever read on the Atlantic. You're actually letting the Church of Scientology sponsor content on your website?
His comment is now gone ... it was by far the most up-voted and I'm a bit shocked that Disqus is in collusion with The Atlantic.
"Such beautiful buildings! It's a shame that Shelley Miscavige couldn't join her husband at the gala openings!"
The Atlantic editorial team is not involved in the creation of this content. I imagine the editorial team are currently drinking a shit ton of whiskey praying that nobody associates them with this.
>Sponsor Content is created by The Atlantic’s Promotions Department in partnership with our advertisers. The Atlantic editorial team is not involved in the creation of this content. Email advertising@theatlantic.com to learn more. So if the Taliban wanted to pay for content they would be fine with that too.
Stories like this destroy the one major advantage established media, such as the Atlantic, has over new media. A trusted brand. These types of ads (branded content, in feed ads or social ads, whatever we're going to call them) are just another step in the battle to outwit a readers BS detection system. If I can easily tune out flashing banner ads, I can easily scan pass sponsored posts. Not worth blowing valuable tru…