Bruce Springsteen Jeep Super Bowl Ad Powerful but Divisive
Jeep recruited ‘The Boss’ for an ambitious Super Bowl spot. But mixed reactions beg the question: Did it hit the mark?
This year’s Super Bowl was–well, let’s be honest, weird. It makes sense, given how surreal the last year has been. Due to Covid-19 the game was played to a sparse crowd. Commercial spots faced unique challenges to years past. In an ambitious move, Jeep wanted to address the state of the nation. So expectations were high when Jeep announced that they would be airing a two-minute long commercial featuring Bruce Springsteen.
Entitled “The Middle,” the spot seems to have divided audiences. Did Jeep deliver on a successful campaign? Was the message too self-important or muddled? It depends on who you ask.
Jeep has a proven track record of delivering powerful, nostalgic, funny, and memorable Super Bowl spots. “The Middle” campaign marks the 10-year anniversary of the “Imported from Detroit” Big Game campaign, which recognized and celebrated American ingenuity as seen through the lens of the Detroit automaker.
On paper, this seemed an ideal fit. Springsteen is “The Boss.” As a musician and artist, Springsteen has reached iconic status with his catalogue built on blue-collar authenticity, powerful lyrics and storytelling, unflinching honesty, and ruminations on American life. And he didn’t shy away from this in “The Middle.”
Filmed in across the United States, the spot features the U.S. Center Chapel in Lebanon, Kansas, which stands on the geographical center (the middle) of the United States of America’s lower 48.
“There’s a chapel in Kansas standing on the exact center of the Lower 48,” Springsteen says in the commercial. “It never closes. All are more than welcome to come meet here, in the middle.” And he adds that it has been difficult as a country to find and reach the middle.
Springsteen drives a Jeep around the town and the country waxing poetic on what the middle means, both in the literal and metaphorical sense.
“Now, fear has never been the best of who we are. And as for freedom, it’s not the property of just the fortunate few; it belongs to us all. Whoever you are, wherever you’re from. It’s what connects us. And we need that connection. We need the middle,” he says over beautifully shot footage.
What struck me was that Jeep didn’t condescend to the viewer, nor did it try to gloss over what and who America is. The locations and the people aren’t exactly especially spectacular–they’re real. There is no Statue of Liberty or Mount Rushmore here. Jeep and Springsteen chose instead to show the often overlooked corners of the country at its most ordinary; and it is moving and beautiful.
Likewise, the Jeeps in the ad aren’t new, fancy, glam shots. They show the Jeep as a great looking, rugged workhorse with a defined and unmistakable identity. That, in my opinion, is an effective strategy. We know it is a Jeep, stripped of all pretense that is so often found in vehicle ads. And the message is clear: Jeep is stalwart, immensely capable, and simply showing their durability speaks volumes.
“We just have to remember the very soil we stand on is common ground. So we can get there. We can make it to the mountaintop, through the desert… and we will cross this divide,” a line that nicely incorporates Jeep’s capability organically. “Our light has always found its way through the darkness. And there’s hope on the road… up ahead,” he concludes.
So, why did viewers have such a split reaction? The irony is not lost on me that some viewers were divided about division. Mainly, there was a sentiment expressed that the Super Bowl is escapism, and this truth bomb generally bummed people out.
Others commented that the commercial played to so many sides that it failed to make a strong stand in general.
Others, like yours truly, liked the campaign quite a lot. I thought it showed the U.S. and Jeep in an unconventional, but ultimately effective and authentic way. I think that showing a stripped-down version of a typical Super Bowl car ad was a risk, but represented the brand and vehicles without pretense. And truth rarely fails.
Check out the commercial and let us know your thoughts. Was the Jeep spot a hit or a miss?
Photos: Jeep
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