Chrysler ad draws criticism

Clint Eastwood narrated Chrysler's 'Halftime in America' Super Bowl ad. His manager calls the commercial 'pro-American.' CHRYSLER GROUP LLC Enlarge

DETROIT -- Before he emerged in a controversial Super Bowl ad as the gravelly voice of Chrysler's resurgence, Clint Eastwood was a critic of the government bailout that saved the U.S. automaker.

"We shouldn't be bailing out the banks and car companies," the actor, director, and Academy Award winner told the Los Angeles Times in November, 2011. "If a CEO can't figure out how to make his company profitable, then he shouldn't be the CEO."

The two-minute Chrysler ad "Halftime in America" won attention for its focus on American resilience but raised eyebrows for the way critics said it echoed one of the central themes of President Obama's re-election bid.

The White House, which said it was not involved in making the ad, did say that the message highlighted the "simple fact" that Mr. Obama rescued the U.S. auto industry.

Eastwood, a longtime Republican who now describes himself as a libertarian, has not changed his views on the auto bailout, his manager Leonard Hirshan said.

"He did a commercial that had nothing to do with politics," Mr. Hirshan said. "What he did was talk about America. If anything, this was a pro-American commercial not a Chrysler commercial. Chrysler just sponsored what he had to say."

Chrysler has not said how much the Super Bowl ad cost or how much Eastwood was paid. A 30-second spot in this year's game, televised by NBC, cost $3.5 million.

In the ad, which aired during Sunday's Super Bowl, Eastwood, 81, gave what amounted to a pep talk to an America still mired in hard times. The ad pointed to Detroit's resurgence since the taxpayer-funded bankruptcy restructuring of both Chrysler Group LLC and General Motors Co. in 2009.

"Detroit's showing us it can be done," Eastwood said. "And, what's true about them is true about all of us."

In an interview with Detroit radio station WJR, Chrysler Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne said the TV spot was not meant to be seen as a political statement. Rather, the ad was intended to showcase "the resilience of America."

"It has zero political content," Mr. Marchionne said Monday.

But veteran Republican strategist Karl Rove said he was offended by the ad, which was shown about nine months before the November presidential election.

The bailout was initiated by President George W. Bush in the waning days of his administration and continued under President Obama. Since then, both GM and Chrysler have begun to mend. Chrysler, now majority-owned by Italian automaker Fiat SpA, has forecast its annual operating profit would rise 50 percent to $3 billion in 2012.

This year was the second straight in which Chrysler ran a two-minute spot during the most-expensive advertising slot in American television. Last year's featured Detroit-raised rapper Eminem and launched the slogan "Imported from Detroit."

This year's advertisement was filmed over two weeks in January with scenes shot in New Orleans and California. Footage from Detroit was used from Chrysler's "Born of Fire" ad from 2011's Super Bowl.

Traffic on Twitter showed overwhelmingly positive comments for the advertisement, which was the last one shown before the start of the second half of Sunday's game.

But the ad "fell flat" with consumers, Edmunds.com said, citing an analysis of traffic on its Web site. Chrysler page views increased 13 percent in the hour after the ad was aired. But Hyundai Motor Co.'s page views rose 134 percent and Honda Motor Co.'s Acura page views jumped 110 percent. Interest in Fiat shot up more than 2,000 percent after the Fiat 500 Abarth ad aired.

"The ad tried to capture the same mood that made last year's commercial so effective, but America's state of mind right now is different from where it was last year," Edmunds.com Vice Chairman Jeremy Anwyl said. "Using the same formula, Chrysler didn't elicit the same emotional response."