Detroit, The Motor City, Chrysler and Famous Figures

During the global economic downturn that started in 2008, the city of Detroit was one of the hardest hit cities, with virtual collapse of Detroit's motor industry. Now after being bailed out by Obama and now on the rise again, commercials by car companies based in Detroit such as Chrysler follow a similar theme of the idea that just as Detroit has risen from the ashes, so too can the rest of America and become a "strong" nation once again. 

This first commercial, featured during halftime of the 2012 NFL Super Bowl, one of the most watched annual sporting events not only in America, but in the world. The commercial features American Film icon Clint Eastwood talk about how during the economic downturn, America was a divided nation where blame was thrown around and there was little in the way of thought on how to recover. The commercial continues on to talk about how America is now entering its "second half" where the nation will continue to be rebuilt through the unity of the American people and the commercial uses the resurrection of Detroit as a sign that although difficult there is a way for America to rise form this economic crisis. 

This commercial does not advertise a single car, it is more like the Levi's jeans commercial shown in last week's lecture. The commercial is a statement towards American values that will help rebuild the nation, values such as unity and the strength of the American nation and its people, as it states in the commercial, America is not a nation that can be knocked out with a single punch. The main basis of this commercial is to inspire those who watch and although it does show the cars of American car companies these take a back seat (no pun intended). This commercial, as well as many of the newer American car commercial finish with the tag line "Imported from Detroit". The way I interpret this statement is that its not just about the cars, its about the people who made the cars and the values the workers of Detroit have shown to help stabilize the industry of Detroit, values that are at the heart of America such as unity and hard work, values that were forgotten during this crisis. 

Other commercials for Chrysler feature "famous" figures of Detroit such as rapper Eminem and Detroit Lions (NFL) Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh. Each commercial is for a specific Chrysler car, but both commercials show values of not only the people of Detroit, but also the people of America. The first of these commercials is focused on the idea of humble beginnings and how they can be used to gauge an individual's success whilst staying true to who you are. Ndamukong Suh is a good example of this ideal because he goes from being a normal collegiate athlete to one the future stars and dominant defensive forces in the NFL and whilst he appears intimidating and awe inspiring the humble act of visiting home is how the commercial and the tagline in the video description is thus, "Show where you are going, without forgetting where you are from".  What this tagline shows is that regardless of who you become you should never forget where you come from, this fits in well with American values and history due to the immigrant nature of the first American people and it also fits in well with the evolution of cities such as Detroit because in whatever direction Detroit heads in, it will never forget its base in the automotive industry for that is why it is called Motor City. 

The final commercial featuring Eminem focuses again on how the values of hard work are a crucial part of America and how that value of hard work has taken Detroit out of "hell" and brought it back into prosperity and a positive future. My interpretation of the presence of Eminem in this commercial also shows the value hard work, because Eminem came from virtually nothing, growing up poor in Detroit and having to fight his way into a predominately "Black" area of the music industry. 

The main underpinning values of these commercials is not solely about the cars, the cars are empty shells that have been injected with the values of the American people, the most important part of these commercials is to inspire unity though out the America and to help support America's economic resurrection through values of hard work, and the use of Detroit as a blueprint to that resurrection and the cars are the product of this Motor City resurrection.