Not a fan of domestic cars. Still think they're, as a whole, inferior to Japanese and even European vehicles, although there are some models, most notably from Ford, that can stand on their own. (Quick aside: While I was attending a job fair in Nashville I was lucky to snag on the cheap a Ford Escape. I don't remember why or how, but I loved the SUV.)
The Big Three Automakers have been very quiet the past couple years, especially since GM and Chevrolet had to be bailed out by the government. But finally, one brand has gotten up and declared that they're ready to stand by their product: Jeep. And they do so in this brilliant, soul-stirring "manifesto":
I like it because it beckons a yearning for a past, stereotypical as it may be, that seems to have disappeared in America. Everybody talks about how the nation is moving to a service-based economy. But here, Jeep is trying to make a stand that the essence and present DNA of America is, or at least should still be, blue-collar. It could be interpreted that the country is fixated on material items. But what I think it's trying to convey -- for the purposes of selling cars, of course -- is we are what we make, and that sense of self-worth through tangible, consumable goods is not a bad thing, so long as it's done well.
Jeep has not been one of the models I think of when I think of reliability. But this commercial for its 2011 Grand Cherokee, with stock footage of people making stuff with their hands and backed by the melody from Johnny Cash's "God's Gonna Cut You Down," is very persuasive. And the best lines come at the end: "This was once a country where people made things. Beautiful things. And so it is again."
If I had a lot of cash to spend, I'd be sold. Regardless, I think it's a damn good commercial.
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