Captain American: The Chevrolet Soldier

            Sometimes in life, the simplest things are overlooked; that is exactly the case with product placement in movies and me. I never looked for them or thought to look for them in movies, but now that I know they are there, I see them in almost every scene. Recently I watched Captain America: The Winter Soldier and I immediately noticed a connection with the movie and Chevrolet. After some research, I found out that the two partnered together; it wasn’t hard to tell. There was a Chevy car in almost every scene and every main character drove one. This is a perfect relationship between these two companies for they both benefit each other.

            I thought there were two scenes that showcased the partnership best. The first was early on in the movie when Samuel L. Jackson’s character was trying to evade the enemy. He was driving a Chevrolet and even though his car was practically destroyed, I noticed the Chevrolet logo was in perfect condition. The other scene was when Captain America and his partner Agent Romanov were driving to an old military base. The scene of the car driving looked like it was straight out of a commercial; the colors were pretty, the car glistened and the logo was highlighted.

             This is a perfect partnership for Chevrolet to be in. To me, Captain America portrays everything America. He is the stereotypical citizen, a strong, good looking white male, he was in the American military, he strives for greatness, he wears a red, white and blue uniform and his name is Captain America (there’s nothing more American than that). Chevrolet tries to market themselves as this great, American company who is still headquartered in America. A few years ago they ran a campaign saying they were the “Heartbeat of America.” Partnering up with a movie that is super American is a great way for Chevrolet to boost their image of being an ultra-American company. It also does not hurt that Captain America is under the Marvel name. Marvel has a huge ethos and is well respected around the world so partnering with a big company like this will certainly help.

            Captain America also benefits from this partnership. The cars driven by the main characters perfectly portray their personalities. The pickup truck that Captain America drives (in the scene I described earlier) is strong and dependable, just like Captain America. The car Agent Romanov drives is a sleek, black Chevrolet Corvette and as the director Joe Russo describes, its “sexy with a sense of power” (Winter Soldier-New Corvette Stingray). This is just what her character is as well, sexy and powerful. Finally, Samuel L. Jackson’s character drives a blacked out Chevy Tahoe. This car portrays security, strength and mystery – this, again, perfectly describes his character. Along with this, Chevy put Captain America into some of their commercials, helping to further spread the movie. The movie benefits from this partnership because Chevrolet is able to provide cars that match the personalities of the characters along with extra marketing.

            There is a simple answer to why companies want to partner with movies and why movies want to partner with companies. First off, they both benefit from the extra marketing. A company advertises the movie in commercials while the movie advertises the company is commercials and the movie itself. Also, a movie company might want to partner up because “an emblem or (company) logo can convey a wealth of cultural and historical implications” (Lunsford 456). Basically, this adds depth to both companies while adding ethos and connection to the audience.

            This partnership gets four pickles out of five. I believe Chevrolet benefited more than Captain America did because I only saw a few Chevy commercials featuring Captain America but I saw Chevy cars in every scene. Overall, it is a good partnership that both companies gained from.

Here is one Chevy commercial featuring Captain America.