The legendary Bruce Springsteen is many things for many people, but he has never been exactly the face of a marketing campaign before. His music, yes, but not the man. But if you’re tuned in Tonight, at the Super Bowl LV, you’ll see a familiar face – and you’ll discover that Springsteen has partnered with Jeep.
The commercial is less of a commercial than a mini-movie, which you would expect from someone like Springsteen. Clocked at two minutes, this short clip is called “The middle” and features only two vehicles: 1980 Jeep CJ-5 and a 1965 Willys Jeep CJ-5.
This is because this is not really a product advertisement, but it is an appeal to Americans to “meet in the middle”. Or, essentially, abandoning our party behaviors and offering a little compassion to each other.
In the two-act commercial, Springsteen talks about a chapel in the center of the country, the US Center Chapel in Lebanon, Kansas. In a narration, he notes: ““It is not a secret. The medium has been a difficult place to reach recently. Enter red it’s blue. Between servant and citizen. Between our freedom and our fear. Now, fear has never been the best of who we are. And as for freedom, it is not the property of just a fortunate few; belongs to all of us. “
It ends with the slogan “To the United States of America”, followed by the Jeep website and logo. You can watch the full clip below:
So why did “The Boss” agree to go ahead with an ad for the first time in his career? It’s the message behind it more than anything, and it wasn’t an easy deal for Springsteenager. In fact, he only agreed to shoot the commercial a few weeks ago, according to Vanity Fair. Here is more of the story:
Springsteen thought the concept would be very spiritual, says [chief marketing officer of Stellantis Oliver] François. “He looked at it as a prayer,” and that interpretation played a role in whether the musician would contribute one of his real songs to the piece, an idea that François says was in fact under consideration. “If this is a prayer, he didn’t want the music to distract him.” Springsteen chose to contribute a score, with François requesting the end of the song on an optimistic note after the artist’s voice ended.
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It is certainly an idea that will hit home for many people after one of America’s most chaotic electoral seasons (although I have to admit that I find a little humor in the fact that this uplifting message has to be conveyed through the auspices of religion and capitalism).
And it’s definitely a good thing for Jeep and Stellantis. Countless automakers are leaving the Super Bowl, so we won’t have the ads we expect during the big game. Jeep moving forward with the Springsteen idea will give the message a little more oomph in a vacuum without ads.