Signs, Messages, Blessings and Miracles: Subliminal Spirituality

I don’t know much about commercials, but I do know the U.S. Cellular television commercials usually evoke a number of YouTube comments: often of annoyance. The thing of it is though, the ads are inspiring attention, conversation, and apparently plenty of viewing. In that sense, I think ultimately they’re successful. I have to believe they’re generating revenue as well, otherwise, the marketers would have changed their strategies.

What I’ve noticed about a number of the commercials are perhaps, subliminal spiritual messages that I find surprising, and for me, particularly appealing. Subliminal of course, referring to something that targets the unconscious, rather than the conscious mind and as a result is considered insidious.

I might believe this spiritualism is unintentional, except I understand how cleverly psychological inducements are used in today’s market place. So, I must concede that in all probability it is totally premeditated. I also submit that although the word “subliminal” in most quarters is considered a negative, I think in this case, U.S. Cellular has taken a negative and made it a positive.

The thing of it is, regardless how the messages in these commercials are labeled, I like them.

The Love Message

The first time I noticed this barely disguised spiritualism was in the commercial that came out around Valentine’s Day. It was all about love. Two lovers cooing at each other like idiots about whether to buy a telephone, and the salesperson in the end joining them in the cooing. At first I found the commercial annoying, but by the end, I was smiling. The message wasn’t lost on me, and I found it worthy.

Whether viewers considered the love birds in the commercial to be silly or obnoxious, the subliminal point was … love is always inspirational.

And maybe the bottom line of the commercial … You’ll love this telephone too!

The Faith Message

Now, we have the commercial where the buyer is confused about which telephone to choose, and says … “I wish I had a sign.” At that point one of the telephones literally jumps off the rack into his hands.

The salesperson witnesses this and is amazed. As the man places the telephone back on the rack, the salesperson is about to comment on the sign he’d just received when he cuts her off to repeat … “If I just had a sign.”

Could the subliminal message here be how often we receive and ignore signs from God? How often do we ask our Father for help, for guidance, for whatever are our needs, then either not recognize, or ignore the answers, and blessings we receive.

And maybe the bottom line of the commercial … This telephone is so wonderful it will be a blessing!

I believe this message of faith is particularly powerful. It had the effect of making me think how tuned out many of us are to the Lord’s interaction with us on a daily basis. We’re simply tuned out to the continuous dialogue He has with us through signs, messages, blessings and yes, miracles.

For instance, I’m often amazed at how upset some people become when their flights are delayed or cancelled because of bad weather. If you believe all things work for the good, then perhaps the cancellation is a sign that if the plane flies something worse than arriving late at a destination could be the result. I think our level of frustration is directly related to our level of belief that we’re in charge … rather than the Father.

The Trust Message

This is one of the most recent of the U.S. Cellular commercials. I got the feeling that this commercial is trying to capitalize on the type of positivism of the above messages, but used a heavier hand. Could the decision to pull back on subliminal messages have been made? In any event, there’s nothing below the level of consciousness about the trust message. But, then again …. ?

In the commercial a man is talking with a sales representative about which telephone to purchase. All of a sudden, he turns his back, and starts falling straight back to the floor. The sales person catches him. The customer does this once more, and once more the sales person catches him. Finally, the man explains, saying something to the effect of … “I just wanted to see if I could trust you guys.”

A positive, upfront message about the issue of trust. But, could there be a subliminal implication here? After all, we trust in God without sight; we’re asked, and do walk by faith and not sight … I could go on. So, although not as clear in intention, the argument could be made for the presence of a subliminally spiritual message.

And the obvious bottom line of the commercial … You can trust us to tell you the truth, deliver a good product, etc.

The Bottom Line

Whether or not spirituality is being used to sell telephones isn’t the issue, at least not for me. To me, what’s important is the substance of those particular messages: they celebrate what’s really important: life, love, trust, and faith.

And, that’s why I like some of the U.S. Cellular commercials so much. I don’t know how successful they are at generating revenue, but I appreciate that they have a spiritual resonance that may ultimately be subliminally consciousness raising. And that’s a good thing.