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'Halftime in America' ad creates political debate

The Monument to Joe Louis statue is displayed in downtown Detroit, Monday, Feb. 6, 2012. What exactly is Chrysler selling with "It's Halftime in America," Super Bowl ad which aired during Super Bowl XVLI, on Feb. 5? Chrysler's recovery or Detroit's or the country's? The city is fighting to stay out of financial receivership, for one, and its image as a symbol of recovery is incomplete. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

This advertisement provided by Chrysler Group LLC, shows actor Clint Eastwood, featured in an ad titled "It's Halftime In America," which aired during Super Bowl XVLI, Sunday, Feb. 5, 2012. AP Photo/Chrysler Group LLC)

A view of downtown Detroit looking north on Woodward Ave., Monday, Feb. 6, 2012. What exactly is Chrysler selling with "It's Halftime in America," Super Bowl ad which aired during Super Bowl XVLI, on Feb. 5? Chrysler's recovery or Detroit's or the country's? The city is fighting to stay out of financial receivership, for one, and its image as a symbol of recovery is incomplete. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

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By COREY WILLIAMS, The Associated Press Updated 10:06 AM Tuesday, February 7, 2012

DETROIT — People rarely pick a fight with Dirty Harry. But Chrysler's "Halftime in America" ad featuring quintessential tough guy Clint Eastwood has generated fierce debate about whether it accurately portrays the country's most economically distressed city or amounts to a campaign ad for President Barack Obama and the auto bailouts.

The 2-minute ad holds up Detroit as a model for American recovery while idealistic images of families, middle class workers and factories scroll across the screen.

"People are out of work and they're hurting," the 81-year-old Eastwood says in his trademark gravelly voice. "And they're all wondering what they're gonna do to make a comeback. And we're all scared because this isn't a game. The people of Detroit know a little something about this. They almost lost everything. But we all pulled together. Now, Motor City is fighting again."

Conservatives, including GOP strategist Karl Rove, criticized the ad as a not-so-thinly veiled endorsement of the federal government's auto industry bailouts. Others questioned basing a story of economic resurgence in a city that remains in fiscal disarray, with a $200 million budget deficit and cash flow concerns that have it fending off a state takeover.

But is it political? That depends on who you ask.

"I can't stop anybody from associating themselves with a message, but it was not intended to be any type of political overture on our part," Chrysler Chief Executive Sergio Marchionne told WJR-AM in Detroit. "You know, we're just an ingredient of a big machine here in this country that makes us go on."

Last year was a pivotal turnaround year for Chrysler, which nearly collapsed in 2009. The company and its financial arm needed a $12.5 billion government bailout and a trip through bankruptcy protection to survive. Chrysler has since repaid its U.S. and Canadian government loans by refinancing them, but the U.S. government says it lost about $1.3 billion on the deal.

The ad with Eastwood, who previously publicly slammed the auto bailout, follows a highly popular one that aired last Super Bowl featuring hip-hop star and Detroit-native Eminem driving a Chrysler 200 through stark city streets — and introduced the tagline "Imported From Detroit."

This time around, the focus was on faces and factories — far less on cars. Monday editions of USA Today came wrapped in a four-page ad that features Eastwood and images from the commercial. It also touts investments outside Detroit, specifically in Belvidere, Ill., where it's making the new Dodge Dart.

That ad notes the company is "doing our part to move America forward. To help win this country's second half for all of us."

But despite "Halftime in America's" celebration of Detroit, none of the new footage was filmed in that city, said Wieden + Kennedy, the Portland, Ore., agency that produced the ad. The portions of the commercial featuring Eastwood were filmed in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the rest of the production was shot in New Orleans and Northern California. The ad does feature previously filmed footage of Detroit, said Dianna Gutierrez, a Chrysler spokeswoman.

"It was very powerful, not only for Detroit but for the country and also for Chrysler," said Allen Adamson, a managing director at brand consulting firm Landor Associates Adamson. "Of all the three, Chrysler was the least likely to succeed, the least likely to survive the storm. And they have come out with potentially the strongest story."

Adamson also compared the spot to Ronald Reagan's "Morning in America" ad in 1984, which tried to capture a feeling of American optimism during his re-election campaign. Reagan's ad showed images of people going to work, buying homes, and getting married in greater numbers.

Rove told Fox News on Monday that he was "offended" by Chrysler's ad, saying it amounted to "using our tax dollars to buy corporate advertising and the best-wishes of the management which is benefited by getting a bunch of our money that they'll never pay back."

Obama spokesman Jay Carney told the AP that the White House had no role in in the ad's production, but said it pointed out "a simple fact, which is that the auto industry in this country was on its back and potentially poised to liquidate three years ago."

"This president made decisions that were not very popular at the time that were guided by two important principles," Carney said. "One, that he should do what he could to ensure that one million jobs would not be lost and, two, that the American automobile industry should be able to thrive globally if the right conditions were created, and that included the kinds of reforms and restructuring that Chrysler and GM undertook in exchange for the assistance from the American taxpayer."

Eastwood, a fiscal conservative who is more liberal on social issues including gay marriage and environmental protections, has mixed with politics before. The former nonpartisan mayor of Carmel, Calif., who supported GOP presidential contender John McCain in 2008, told the Los Angeles Times last November that he can't ever recall voting for a Democrat for president but expressed admiration for California's Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown.

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