Eminem and Motor City Super Bowl Commercial

I chose the Chrysler/Eminem video to analyze because I remember when I first saw it during the Super Bowl and thinking and saying at the time – wow, what a good commercial.  (Although Madge and the Palmolive commercial were ubiquitous when I was growing up and I looked in the kitchen and I have Palmolive so that may be a testament to it being a good commercial at the time.)

The purpose of this video I think is twofold – to sell a car and to promote the city of Detroit which is known as Motor City – it’s synonymous with car makers.  Detroit has been especially hard hit in recent years with the economy doing poorly.  I think the commercial is selling cars and selling an improved image of Detroit as the headquarters of Chrysler.  It was put on during the Super Bowl which has a huge audience.  The version of reality it is selling is that Detroit isn’t the down and out city that it is portrayed as and that a great car can come from this tough, resilient city.

The intended audience is American adults who have the purchasing power to buy a new car.  In particular, the Super Bowl audience was the original target which is a huge audience.  It is through Eminem’s perspective that we see Detroit, as well as the narrator.  We go on a journey with flashes and slow motion and very powerful, purposeful images shown to the audience of the city of Detroit.  Eminem is chosen because he is  also the face of Detroit and is a popular musical figure.

The people and figures in the video are all tough, strong – a huge fist, statues, steel.  They are All American images - the American flag, Detroit sign, factories, churches, athletes (skaters and runners).  Again, this is shown during the All American football game.  Americans are resilient, Detroit is resilient.  The images connect with patriotic themes – indvididualism, hardiness – hard work, conviction, and knowhow are terms used.  “It is the hottest fires that make the hardest steel.”  It is those that have gone through hardship that know how to make tough cars.  I think each frame is thought of through that lens – tough, American.  You don’t want to buy that car from a different country.  You want to buy a car from here, from American hands.  “This is what we do.”  The commercial starts with a picture of the factories and through slow motion and flashes of images shows powerful images of Detroit – the car being the most powerful as it takes us through Detroit.  There is only a confident voice in this text – there is nothing that represents failure or unsureness – it is all confidence – this is what we do well.  It shows successful photos that has come from hard work.

The reason this video resonated with me was the music, first and foremost.  The music is what drives the video.  It is what made me like the commercial in the first place and remember it – the most important thing for a commercial.  The beat corresponded with the flashes of pictures we see – the beat matches the toughness of strength of the pictures and of the message.  I think even above the pictures it is the music connected to the message that sells the product and the message that Detroit is this tough, resilient city that is great at making cars.  Along with Eminem’s song, a choir joins in towards the end I think to have this inclusive atmosphere – the sound of many voices and to build a crescendo - again with the music adding to the message.  I remember the video because of the beat and the music and the powerful pictures flashing.  The message is - Detroit is not some haphazard city that is dying, but it is tough and hardworking like all other Americans and it survives and the car companies survive and you should buy a Chrysler car because it is the thing to do. 

Besides the music, the powerful images shown through flashes of pictures – the statue of the fist, the factory, the workers etc. and also the slow motion of the images creates a more powerful video which is their intention – it’s not fast – it takes its time.  The build up with the choir at the end and Eminem's proclamation - "This is the Motor City - this is what we do" continues the powerful message.

This design was used because music works on every age group.  They use a music video format to advertise and reach people and get the message and images into people’s brains.  They first show the commercial at the Super Bowl because that is the intended audience and there is no other time that as many people as that will watch that commercial and also to create a buzz so that people will go online to watch it again.  The end slide shows "Imported from Detroit" - their message - buy American.  I thought this was a really well done commercial at the time and still do.