Super Bowl Ad Tracker: Chrysler, Eminem proclaim Detroit is still alive

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This 2-minute long Chrysler ad during the Super Bowl wasn’t so much a promotion for a new model; it was an editorial in defense of a beleaguered Detroit and, perhaps, a withering philosophy of what America is about.

Eminem, a Detroit native, returns for his second spot of the night in what is a magnificent tribute to the city that has been plagued by all the ills that an urban area could possibly face. And it’s a message to stay strong.

In a way, it’s also more than a message about Detroit. As BMW also showed in an ad featuring the plant making its X3 model, it’s honoring a time when America was about making things -- real, hulking tangible pieces of machinery. It stood in contrast to the rest of the ads for things we click on, things made far, far away, things created by people sitting behind a desk (not that there’s anything wrong with that).

Chrysler seems to say that Detroit isn’t dead, and maybe the spirit of Americans making things isn’t dead either.

-- Rick Rojas