After avoiding any connection to product advertising throughout his career, Bruce Springsteen will appear in an ad for the Jeep Super Bowl on Sunday. Filmed over five days last month in Kansas, Colorado and Nebraska by Springsteen longtime collaborator Thom Zimny, the ad’s visual approach is no different from the atmospheric sequences of highways in Zimny and Springsteen 2019 Western stars concert film.
Springsteen and producer Ron Aniello created the commercial’s instrumental soundtrack, which runs under a Springsteen monologue about the rediscovery of common ground in America. The text serves as a “joint message” from the rock legend and the Jeep, according to a statement from Olivier François, director of global marketing for the brand’s parent company, Stellantis.
“Fear has never been the best of who we are,” says Springsteen in the ad. “We just have to remember that the soil on which we stand is common ground. Then we can get there. We can reach the top of the mountain, through the desert … and we will cross that division. “
Springsteen has spent decades refusing all requests to appear in advertisements, or even for his songs to do so; he declined the famous offer to use “Born in the USA” in Chrysler ads in the 1980s. François, in particular, has been looking for Springsteen for an ad for a decade, without success so far.
The commercial concept – based on a chapel in what is supposed to be the precise geographical center of the United States – attracted the Springsteen camp. “Olivier François and I have been discussing ideas for the past 10 years,” Springsteen manager Jon Landau said in a statement, “and when he showed us the sketch for ‘The Middle’, our immediate reaction was, ‘Let’s do this . ‘ Springsteen did not decide to make the announcement until last month, which meant that production was exceptionally fast, according to Variety.
Springsteen was, until now, one of the few remaining musicians to resist the world of advertising; even his hero Bob Dylan made announcements for Victoria’s Secret and Chrysler, while younger musicians from Taylor Swift to Travis Scott collaborate with brands as a matter of course.