Bruce Springsteen came out of mothballs to do a “uniting” commercial for Jeep, played during the Super Bowl. Let’s just say it hasn’t gone over very well. While some call it pandering, others wonder what it does to sell Jeeps? Because at the end of the day, that’s what Super Bowl commercials are really for; to sell products. But looking at the comments on YouTube, we’d say Jeep is pretty brave for keeping the comments section on. Because they’re getting trashed, big time.

Those who liked Springsteen’s “uniting” America screed probably aren’t commenting

We’d say that those who liked Springsteen’s uniting America screed probably aren’t commenting at all. Therefore, what you get is a lot of comments from that genre of keyboard jockeys that have no filter. If something doesn’t fit their bias, they hit the comments section of whatever it is that has welled up that special kind of anger we have only experienced over the last four years. 

The thing is that Jeep made a decision to do something Jeep-y that was probably inspired by the loons who stormed the Capitol in January. We can only guess that was the motivation, but even if it wasn’t it ties into that rather well. So it wasn’t frogs singing about beer, or clever little skits meant to make you want to buy sliced ham. 

But it was about something that is so American it might be the one thing universally recognized as such. That would be a Jeep. Or Coca-Cola, but it didn’t do this commercial. It did one like it many years ago. Remember “I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing?” 

What was Jeep’s inspiration to do a commercial like this?

Considered one of the all-time greatest commercials ever. Maybe that too was the inspiration for Jeep? Back then there was no internet. You couldn’t announce your gut-reaction to something that didn’t fit your clear definition of what a Super Bowl commercial should be. Now we get to see rants about the “elite fifth column,” “Jeep showing clear leftest politics,” and “gotta be woke to buy a Jeep now.”

Maybe it is just the venting of viewers whose team was losing? Or, maybe people feel good about feeling angry? Some were funny in a cynical sort of way:

Jeep 1941: Let’s kill Fascists

Jeep 2021: Let’s meet in the middle

It’s the vilifying of two old American brands that get people happy

Maybe it’s the vilifying of two old American brands that get people happy? One keeps hitting sales records each year and the other is Springsteen. Did you even recognize that it was Springsteen before the half-way point of the commercial? But we digress…

We don’t know what the Jeep/Springsteen comments on YouTube mean as the world whirls around. But nobody would have watched ‘ol Springsteen shill for Jeep, but there are plenty of comments from viewers that watched the whole “united” commercial. So love it or hate it, Jeep won even if it seems from the comments that it lost. PT Barnum is credited with saying, “I don’t care what the newspapers write about me as long as they spell my name right.”