Just 4 years later, Chrysler Eminem spot snubbed by 'Top Super Bowl Ads' lists

Eminem may be cruising along, with a well-received video recently released for his latest song, but the Super Bowl TV ad that the rapper made for Chrysler has become largely forgotten just four years later.

The “Top Super Bowl ads” lists that populate the Internet of late ignore the Chrysler spot in favor of funny or silly entertainment spots hawking Doritos, Budweiser and other food and beverages. (The New York Post’s list is one exception.)
While favorite spots for the big game dating back to the 1980s show up on these media-generated lists of the top 10 or top 20, the groundbreaking 2011 commercial that highlighted the Chrysler 200 seems to have disappeared from memory outside of Metro Detroit.
What makes this trend all the more remarkable is that the Chrysler ad was a sensation at the time. The stylish spot nearly blew up Twitter, led to a traffic surge at Chrysler dealerships, generated a massive 661 percent increase in sales of the Chrysler 200 over its predecessor, and won several top awards within the advertising industry.

At two minutes in length, the ad offered artful scenes of Detroit’s gritty side, with Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” pumping in the background as the narrator asks, “What does a town that’s been to hell and back know about the finer things in life?”

In addition to working wonders for Chrysler’s reputation and creating some momentum for Eminem, the rapper who grew up in Warren, the ad’s “Imported From Detroit” tagline became a favorite phrase on T-shirts.
Certainly the commercial served as a sharp departure from the comical or sexual 30-second spots that predictably dominate Super Bowl airtime each year. Yet, Apple’s 1984 commercial introducing the Macintosh computer -- a dark piece of film that used special effects for a mind-bending experience -- remains on many of the “best of” lists.

Why is this?

It’s a mystery to me.