American Consumerism

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKL254Y_jtc

This commercial is for Chrysler cars and its main focus is on luxury. The commercial opens with a question; “what does this city know about luxury” which gives the audience something to think about during the commercial, and during the commercial, this question is answered albeit in not an obvious way.

The commercial shows, not only Detroit, but America as a whole. For example the American flag can be seen twice in the commercial which shows patriotism, as well as this, the narrator says; “we're from America” which shows pride for the country and the company. The car drives through both the affluent and the impoverished areas of Detroit, as well as showing a glimpse of what the state was known for: industry. These show that there are different people in America, yet they all seem to work together, as seen in the painting of black and white factory workers. This diversity shows that America is united and that it does represent an example to the outside world and to the “folks who have never even been here”.

Following on from this, there appears to be an ‘us’ and ‘we’ complex in the commercial, with the narrator constantly referring to this. Despite the narrator including everyone, he also seems to be aware of the differences between the people watching the commercial, most probably: Americans and other countries; showing that outsiders do not understand the intricacies of American life. This can be heard when the narrator mentions that the city has “been to hell and back”, highlighting the resilience of America.

This distance shown in the ‘us’ and ‘we’ leads on to focus on what the product and in some ways, America, is not. The narrator makes the point; “we're from America, but this is not New York City” and goes on to say what else it is not: “the windy city” “emerald city” “sin city”. This idea of identifying something by what it is not, links back to how America wanted to define themselves when the early settlers arrived; i.e. not being like Europe. And by not being like Europe or in this case, these other cities, America and the brand can be an example to everywhere and everyone else, again linking back to America being a “city upon a hill”. This is also supported by the end of the commercial when Eminem says; "this is the motor city, and this is what we do", exemplifying the idea being different to others and showing outsiders how things are done.

Referring back to the narrator’s opening question, the commercial shows what luxury is and these are the values that the product claims to embody. The values of being united whilst being able to be an example to others, of coming back after being knocked down, and that it’s more “where it’s from than who it’s for” (America).