More importantly, Chrysler is the underdog in the Big Three American auto industry (which is itself an underdog in the auto industry in general). Detroit is an underdog in the pantheon of notable American cities. Eminem is an underdog in the rap industry - when he started, with the image he gave himself:
http://gawker.com/#!5753923/eminem-gives-up
So the ad brings together three underdogs that are all connected with each other: Detroit, the city that's fallen on hard times, Chrysler, the car company that's fallen on hard times, and Eminem, the artist who's always been in and out of hard times to begin with. It's a great way for the three entities to reaffirm themselves in a bold, dramatic way, in front of a massive audience that might not have known any better or wouldn't have cared in the first place. It's not trying to sell the Chrysler 200, a warmed-over Sebring. In fact, it's great because it promotes not a product, not so much a company at large (which is what it's doing, obviously), but a
concept. It links a product with not only a celebrity but also an entire region and its products. And it gives people a different perspective to think about the product but from common human emotions and experiences (redemption, recovery, etc). It hits all of these things without sounding as cliche as one might expect. Bravo. Don Draper would be pretty proud of himself.
Still, I thought Eminem was going to stab me at the end.