Taylor Swift video “Look what you made me do” got 35 million views on YouTube shortly after its release. so he did the teaser trailer for Avengers: Age of Ultron. Just like “Gentleman” by the artist Gangnam Style Psy.
And so did the Church of Scientology Super Bowl 2023 Ad. Originally airing during the Super Bowl in limited markets, the ad has taken on a life and momentum of its own on the social media platform.
What’s going on here? Sure, the ad, titled “You Can Live Again,” features an original song of the same name, but it’s not a Taylor Swift song. And yes, the production values are great, but this is not a Marvel Cinematic Universe presentation. The video does not open with a zombie scene—as in the Taylor Swift video— nor does it feature cataclysms, explosions, and the end of life on this planet, as in the Avengers Advancenor does it invite you to tap your feet or hum to a brain-numbing beat, as in Psy’s Knight.
So with no big names, big explosions, catchy beat, or even a zombie to help you out, how did this video rise up the charts?
Possibly it was the message of hope that impregnated him.
Possibly there was something said—“It’s there within you, something that can never die”—that resonated.
Possibly tens of millions of viewers needed someone to reassure them, which the narrator does, that “nothing is more powerful than you.”
And possibly it was the truth that anything dead, even hope, can live again, not as a zombie, but as something proud and powerful and immortal.
It is possible that the Church of Scientology, through the video and its message, has tapped into something, something that is not as new, amazing, loud, loud, sensational, explosive or flashy as it is simply needed.