This Is the Motor City

Posted by Julia Klaiber on February 08, 2011

I'm not much of a football fan, but I'm a huge fan of the Chrysler commercial that aired during the Super Bowl. In it, the real star isn't the car at all, but rather the City of Detroit. Not even Eminem could steal the spotlight from the city whose dramatic fight for its future has been the subject of national media coverage. The commercial underscores what we know to be increasingly true about the connections between consumption and place. Just as with farmers' markets, where seeing the hands that grow your food makes it inherently more valuable, it suggests that the true value of the new Chrysler is where it is made -- in a city where "the hottest fires make the hardest steel," both literally and metaphorically. If you missed it, you can watch it here.