As I don’t have a TV that’s connected with the outside world, I’m not watching the Super Bowl tonight. I just heard from a friend, however, that the following Chrysler ad aired a few minutes ago, which, if true, I think is pretty damned cool. Yeah, I know it might be seen as unnecessarily extravagant for a struggling automaker – especially one that we just had to bail out not too long ago – to drop tens of millions of dollars on something as quixotic and fleeting as a two-minute television ad, but, as someone who cares a great deal about the city of Detroit, it made me feel pretty damned good to see it, and, more importantly, to know that it was being seen by over one hundred million people across the United States. And it does my heart good to see a company, instead of trying to distance itself from Detroit, embrace the fuck out of it. I know that, at the end o the day, it was a calculated business decision on their part, but hope it pays off for them… Well done, Chrysler.
Discuss….
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Or, as my friend Steve just said, ”Imported from Auburn Hills”.
And, yeah, I’ll readily admit to having been swept up in the moment when I posted this. Call me a sap, but it made me happy to know that people around the country, who haven’t heard a single good thing about the city in years, were watching that. And it did occur to me that Chrysler didn’t have to do it. They could have gone with an older man and his younger blonde girlfriend driving through wine country.
Which isn’t to say they did this out of any sense of charity. They did this because it tested well with their target demographic. I’m not naive. Still, though, I think they deserve credit for having the idea and going for it, even if it was calculated.
I wonder how many clarifications I can post before someone else leaves a comment.
I wonder if everyone is logging on to MarkMaynard.com now that the Super Bowl is over… Or will they wait until after Glee?
Is it just me or is Christina Aguilera morphing into Cyndi Lauper?
http://tv.gawker.com/#!5753404/watch-christina-aguilera-fumble-the-lyrics-to-the-national-anthem-at-super-bowl-xlv
It’s a feel good ad. I like it. I don’t think it makes a lot of sense though, if you watch it more than once. It starts out saying that we (Detroit) know a lot about “luxury,” but then it never backs it up. I just goes on to talk about how tough we are. Watch it again and see if you agree with me.
I like how they said something about how you are hearing bad things about the city from people who have never even been here. If that stops even one asshole from posting pictures of “ruin porn”, then it was money well spent.
i think it’s great. the whole eminem thing was whatever, but it swept me up too. i felt intensely proud for a moment!
Ever seen the opening sequence for Hung?
can anyone name a SUCCESSFUL Chrysler Luxrury Car?
It’s time for Eminem to get you a television
I loved that commercial and oddly saw it right before we watched an episode of Detroit 187 about the 60’s riots. All I kept thinking was how I wish I could have known what Detroit was like before the riots – then I realized it was a totally racist thought – but I just wish I could change it and make it a better place to be for everyone, kumbayah my friends…..let’s all chant and visualize a perfect world for a few seconds…
Honestly, for some reason, I think Detroit is headed for a renaissance and I’m not sure why but I really truly believe it in my heart and soul. I love Detroit and Ypsi. LOVE these places. Oh gosh I have no idea why this post went this direction and I’m sorry for being so sappy.
I made Josh “Shut the heck up!” when it came on. It was weird so see Detroit so glamorized, but it made me feel pretty warm and bubbly inside. Eminem was an interesting touch. I think I might have left him out..
Detroit will never be what it was 45 years ago, or even 20 years ago. Detroit will not undergo this mythical Renaissance. Ever. Detroit just needs to be itself. Proud of itself. Do what it does best for itself regardless of what the rest of the world thinks. This ad captures that. It’s why so many people like it.
I was pretty swept up in the whole thing when I first saw it. Just watched it a second time and I still like it.
What a waste of money. Didn’t think it was anything special!
“Detroit will never be what it was 45 years ago, or even 20 years ago.”
I’m glad Detroit isn’t what it was 20 years ago. 2o years ago Detroit was a disaster.
Hail all those in Detroit who are making something of their city.
But I think you agree, Jon.
I loved it. Who cares where it came from or if it made perfect sense. Do we ask ourselves where the relentless negativity about Detroit comes from? How often do we challenge the sense of these comments or attitudes? How many great stories of Detroit or Michigan never see the light of day because they are drowned in a narrative of blight and despair? Nicely done Chrysler.
I live in Battle Creek and felt a great deal of pride watching the commercial so I decided to google it. I found this blog as a result. Is this the famous Ann Arbor grill chef Mark Maynard?
Personally, I didn’t care for it. It feels to me like Chrysler is part of the reason Detroit went to “hell and back” and now they are cashing in on it. There are lots of good things about Detroit, but I think being embraced by a failed auto giant that caused a lot of the problems doesn’t really help.
I thought it was beautifully done, and more importantly attempts to change the image of Detroit from a liability to an asset, at least when it comes to the cars that come from here. And the car and ad are bother tending topics on Google so they seem to have struck a chord even outside the region.
Good commercial. Terrible company.
More of that Obama ’08 style “hope” and “change” cool aid. Cool Aid is yummy, especially when it’s spiked with a little nationalism, or cityism as the case may be. Chrysler only did this to make a buck, which is fine, that’s what $12M commercials are for!
mmm… duality.
Well done Chrysler! Imported from Detroit (Auburn Hills) is a great tag line. Never once liked a Chrysler brand vehicle that I’ve driven, so it will remain a tag line to me.
It looks like the rap world approves.
http://rapfix.mtv.com/2011/02/07/rap-experts-weigh-in-on-eminem%E2%80%99s-chrysler-200-super-bowl-ad/
Where were the dead bodies and the people eating raccoons?
@ Peter Larson, I disagree. Twenty years ago, Detroit was about to move into the Dennis Archer era. A lot of people were optimistic then. The city still had about 1 million or so people and a lot of its neighborhoods that are now either sliding backwards or nearly gone were still good places to live then. Hudsons still stood and the Tigers still played in Tigers Stadium. I’m not downplaying the problems, especially forces of nature like the crack boom, but there are plenty of reasons to be nostalgic for the Motor City of 20 years ago.
However, I do agree with “Hail all those in Detroit who are making something of their city.” There are a lot of people who are making the city a better place and really enjoying the fruits of their labor.
Say Chrysler Mini Van…Now I wouldn’t ever buy one again but they defined the minivan for quite some time and some models were quite luxurious…
I wonder how much of the Chrysler 200 is actually made in Detroit. Or imported from Mexico.
Corinthian leather is the wine glass drinking our Faygo of freedom.
@Christine: not a luxury car, I know, I have driven them since the originals. Great utility but even the new models don’t have a luxury car feel – at all. If that is what we know of luxury, probably shouldn’t be touted in a commercial…which brings me to my point:
I thought the commercial was rubbish. Good PR except its not a Detroit (or even US) company anymore and the cars really aren’t made here anymore (and not for a long time) and its not a brand even remotely associated with luxury. Whitewashes over reality and for what purpose? Played to whom? The Detroit suburbs. Don’t even get me started on Marshall and his 8 Mile trailer park.
Word I’m getting from around the country is more like “what the heck is that fist all about”.
Is there anything Loriethom isn’t the authority on?
Do not like.
Pay off your bailout $$ & then we’ll start talking about luxury.
“Chevy. We bailed on Detroit a long time ago.”
Yeah, it’s true. And they make shit cars. It was still a good ad, though.
I understand all of the things that are wrong with this commercial but in the end I was really happy to see Detroit in a commercial like this. Call me sappy as well but I have a real love for that town (and Ypsi) and get pretty excited whenever I see anything remotely positive about it.
It’s the national monument to fisting.
Screw the commercial – I want to know about that famous Ann Arbor Grill Chef Mark Maynard!
@lorie, the 200 is being made in Sterling Heights. If you put that in “I’m-from-Detroit-even-though-I-live-in-the-suburbs perspective, that pretty much counts as Detroit.
@Andrew, that would be good news. How do you define “made”…final assembly?
and Sorry – my first COmment was incorrectly directed at Christine. Should have been @Wet
From FastCompany:
Read the rest here:
http://www.fastcompany.com/1724789/super-bowl-ad-stories-chrysler-eminem-break-an-awkward-silence-in-detroit
The 200 is assembled in Michigan, at the Sterling Heights plant to be exact. Parts are likely made all over.
So much for cynicism about Michigan made products.
Epic fail on the part of the haters.
Famous grill chef? I think you’ve got me confused with somebody else, Chris. I did spend so time behind the grill, but that was over 15 years ago now. I was pretty damned good at it, though.
Neither Eminem nor Kid Rock actually live in Detroit, and both are even questionably “from” Detroit. Neither were “made” in Detroit. Warren is not Detroit. Romeo is not Detroit. Clarkston, Macomb, not Detroit, not Detroit. Macomb county and definitely Oakland county (one of the wealthiest counties in the US) are not Detroit.
I think many of us consider ourselves Metro Detroit and it’s a fine line. I have never actually lived in Detroit but Royal Oak, Farmington HIlls, Rochester, Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor and probably more but since my family history goes back so far in this area I feel safe calling myself a Detroiter to non-Michigan people. Enough days and nights spent down in the Big D. Is that so wrong? I think you are nitpicking. People who live on Staten Island consider themselves New Yorkers.
What would Detroit be without the big O, Detrit?
This guy in Philly has an opinion:
http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-philadelphia/lose-yourself-detroit-is-not-an-example-to-follow#ixzz1DO7vEjR5
What an asshole!
I’ve been to Philly many, many times over the past 25 years. It has always sucked worse than Detroit. I’d rather be in Detroit any day.
All the problems he mentioned have been endemic to Philly for more than the past 50 years! I guess he just never went to that side of town, or was so sequestered during his childhood that he never knew anything but what was in his Cheerios.
Fuck him.
Seriously, though, other Phillyians have said , with incredible condescension straight to my face, “Why don’t people in Detroit just leave?”
I say, “have you ever been to Detroit?” and universally, they say “No” and then go on some fantasy story about how great Philly is. Mind you, these are all Ivy Leaguers, slumming at the University of Michigan.
Oh wow, he truly IS an asshole! And white as lily snow! FUCK HIM.
“Aaron Proctor is a libertarian and a Conservative, a self-described “conservatarian”. Proctor finds himself at the crossroads of an ideological revolution. Proctor is a native Philadelphian that some call “Mr. Common Sense” – and returned to the City of Brotherly Love in 2008 to discover a lot can change one’s hometown after being gone a decade. Proctor is a Patriotic pundit and provocateur providing his unique outlook on life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and how it all pertains to Philadelphia and the world. He shares his views here, on an Internet radio show and occasionally on the Fox 29 News. Send hate mail to proctorcast@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @proctorshow. Add him on Facebook: facebook.com/proctorshow. “
@melissa, thanks for the geography lesson. Are you writing it from Detroit?
@Christine, you’ve got the idea.
It’s not like Eminem or Kid Rock or even Chrysler are pretending to be born and raised in Detroit.Tthe MC5, Bob Seger or Ford Motor Co. aren’t from Detroit either, but they all claim that tag, all claim it as home base, as their identity touchstone, and I don’t see anything wrong with that. When I lived in Detroit, no one seemed to care that I wasn’t from Detroit.
That somebody is out there talking about Michigan at all should be good enough.
We should start exporting raccoon meat.
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