Jeep is doing a new marketing campaign for the latest Jurassic World film, and while I was initially going to write about how boring it is relative to the original Jurassic Park marketing brilliance, I’m not going to hate. I think it’s fine that Jeep is doing some Jurassic Park-themed marketing, even if the brand will never live up to what it did back in 1993. But this leads me to wonder: Is there a vehicle more defined by its role in a blockbuster movie than the Jeep Wrangler YJ?
The Jeep Wrangler YJ is the “cheap Jeep,” largely due to its polarizing looks (square headlights) and its successor being a significant improvement by pretty much every measure. But there’s always been one thing keeping the YJ’s value from dropping to the level of sauce packet or refill: The vehicle’s starring role in Jurassic Park.
Seriously, you cannot watch Jurassic Park and not fall in love with the charming little YJ and its beige-and-red Jurassic Park livery:
There’s a reason why so many people still put Jurassic Park livery on their YJs; this one that was up for auction at Mecum looks really nicely done:
And there’s a reason why, a couple of years ago, Jeep offered a modernized Jurassic Park-inspired appearance package for the modern JL Wrangler:
Jeep’s latest bit of marketing, meant to ride the wave of Jurassic World Rebirth, which hits theaters early next month, isn’t quite as cool; it’s basically just a 30-second-spot showing a green four-door JL driving among Dinosaurs:
Stellantis gets into other elements of this marketing campaign in its press release, writing:
- 360-degree marketing campaign includes a long-form video to launch across Jeep brand social media channels later this week, including Instagram, Facebook and TikTok; 30-second version to run across television
- New York City Times Square billboard will feature the flying dinosaur (Quetzalcoatlus) as it soars above the Jeep Wrangler
- The campaign is being activated at more than 2,000 U.S. dealerships via a point-of-sale kit that includes a poster, dinosaur egg mirror hangers and dinosaur claw and footprint decals
- Press tour kickoff for the film in Mexico City at CCXP featured a Jeep Wrangler 4xe arriving on stage
- Similar to Jeep brand’s Super Bowl commercial, “Owner’s Manual,” the spot will offer eagle-eyed viewers a cameo appearance of a future Jeep 4×4 vehicle inside the dinosaur lab
- The Jeep brand design team has created a first-of-its-kind Jurassic badge, appearing in the Tier 2 spot, which will be available soon in limited supply to consumers
It’s fine, but it’s impossible to live up to the brand equity the original move created in the Wrangler YJ. Though that makes me wonder: Are there other examples where a movie truly defined a model in the eyes of the general population?
People call the YJ “The Jurassic Park Jeep,” though they never call the XJ “The Boonies Jeep,” even though The Boonies was one of the XJ’s first and most important appearances in a blockbuster film.
There’s Back to the Future, which definitely defined the way the world sees the DeLorean DMC-12, but what are some other examples? That’s todays’s Autopian Asks.
Top graphic image: Jurassic Park/Universal Studios via screen grab
Who doesn’t fondly remember what a fine vehicle the Mercury Brougham was when watching Uncle Buck?
“Your car’s on fire!” “No, it’s just a little oil.”
“I’ll tell ya a story about my hat…a lot of people hate this hat.”
RoboCop and the original Taurus. It was that futuristic looking in 1986.
So true. Also the 6000SUX with a Blaupunkt
I sold my Saab 900 SPG just a little too late to really capitalize on the spike in interest/prices after Drive My Car came out. Never saw the movie, either; I heard it was good, but also very long and kind of a downer.
Layer Cake and the Range Rover P38 Borrego Edition with the yellow paint. People refer to them now as “the Layer Cake car.”
Also, while technically a TV show, It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia firmly cemented the Range Rover Classic as a “finisher car”.
Layer Cake was considered Daniel Craig’s audition for Bond.
Definitely the DeLorean, among those already mentioned.
For those not yet, “Baby” the Impala from Supernatural, aka the reason the usual boomer – classic discount for a 4 door no longer applies to the 1967 full size Chevy.
The green original Ford Explorer is arguably more Jurassic Park than th YJ.
Especially in Eddie Bauer trim. The perfect first-gen Explorer color combo.
I was talking to a guy at a show once who had a DMC-12. He said the frustrating part of owning one is you can never have a conversation on just the car. Even the most gearhead people will eventually turn the conversation to Back to the Future
So I am stretching a bit as it was primarily a TV show but had a finale movie.
The old Adam West Batman and the Lincoln Futura. I never knew it was a real car until I was very old I always thought it was just a prop car.
This is out of left field, but I always thought the mid-70s Impala/Caprice (the BIG one) was perfectly represented as Hi and Ed’s car in Raising Arizona. I especially like how it was driven at full throttle/brake 100% of the time.
You mean just like Otto’s Continental in a Fish Called Wanda?
“Asshoooooooole!”
David, I think your Jeep-love is blinding you here. First off, the car that is by far most defined by its role in a blockbuster is the DeLorean DMC-12. If it wasn’t for Back to the Future, only weird car nerds would remember its existence today.
Second, I don’t think the Wrangler is even the vehicle most defined by its role in Jurassic Park. That honor belongs to the Ford Explorer–already a sales success by 1993, the movie solidified its place as the premier SUV-as-car-replacement, which in turn built SUVs as the dominant category they are today. The Explorer’s star turn was a milestone; the YJ’s was a footnote by comparison.
Other honorable mentions: the Pontiac Firebird Trans Am in Smokey and the Bandit and the Aston Martin DB5 in the early James Bond movies.
I was about to post pretty much the same comment, so… what Luxobarge said, double it for me! The DMC-12 in particular would have been a footnote if not for its appearance in Back To The Future.
Yep! This! I see waaaay more Explorers liveried up as Jurassic Park than I do Jeeps.
Although I do love the objects in mirror scene of the first movie.
Yeah, I haven’t seen a Jurassic Park movie since we rented the original on VHS from Blockbuster in 1994 or so, but if you’d asked me to name the iconic car from that movie I’d have immediately said the Explorer. No memory whatsoever of there being a Jeep in that movie.
Ask me what movie used a YJ Wrangler to iconic effect, and I’d say Clueless. “Should I leave a note?”
The Aston is obviously the star car from the early 007 movies, but several of them had much more significant product placement from Ford (Goldfinger, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Diamonds are Forever), and the entire 1973 Chevrolet lineup is on egregious display throughout Live and Let Die. We won’t talk about the AMC placement in The Man with the Golden Gun, which came out at a point when Bond hadn’t really had a car of his own in three movies.
Ford had decades of sometimes awkward product placement in the Bond films. The DB5 is as iconic as Bond.
Oh, yeah. Daniel Craig’s new Bond was back in an Aston in Casino Royale, but remember that the first car he drove onscreen was the not-yet-released Ford Mondeo!
Ohh yes. And a yet to be released Mustang on the road in Austria 1964 Goldfinger. The Lincoln Mk VII in Liscence to Kill, the Fox body LTD in A View to a Kill.
Thank you! I knew the YJ from Clueless before I even could recognize it in Jurassic Park. The Aston is an absolute classic.
(Looks at name)
Well, you know that one.
3rd Gen Firebirds and Knight Rider. People still love KITT, hell it’s about the only thing people remember from the show besides the Hoff’s hair.
Speaking of sexy Germans, Herbie and the Beetle are 1 in the same thanks to old school Disney.
56 comments and no love for Wayne’s AMC Pacer?
It’s genuinely shocking how few people know and enjoy Wayne’s World these days.
I was in college when it came out and a friend worked at the record store, Turtles. He would complain about all the 13 year olds that came into the store looking for “that new Bohemian Rhapsody song.”
“Just sell them Flash Gordon or tell them to get the fuck out!”
What a comfort movie. I think the style of humor doesn’t land with a lot of people, so if it wasn’t on your radar growing up you’re just missing out.
I had it on my list
I tell people who were too young/grew up outside of Canada/the US that if they want to know what pop culture was like in the early 90s, Wayne’s World is a good cross-section. It’s pop-rock, sarcastic slang, fashion that was new but also still stuck in the late 80s, and unapologetically silly.
Shaawing!
I take the question as the fame of its screen appearance relative to its fame as an automobile.
No vehicle comes close to being remembered into the future (don’t look at me like that) by its screen appearance like the DMC-12. It’s so iconic to the point that a stock one looks completely wrong, like it has whole different rear end. Without the Bobs, Doc, and Marty, it’s roughly on par with the Bricklin SV-1 (though that gets a cameo in Hobo With A Shotgun)
The next closest for me is probably the Alfa Spider in the graduate.
Probably the only car that is actually known by the name of the movie it was in.
So much so that Alfa released a factory “Graduate” edition.
The challenger in Bullitt? Not sure that the mustang is defined by that movie, but in my mind that’s genesis for the baddie image.
68-70 Dodge Charger
1.Dukes of Hazzard
2.Bullit
3.Fast & Furious
4.Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry
5.Cannonball
6.BladeTrinity
2nd gen Trans Am in Smokey & The Bandit and Smokey & The Bandit II.
Dont forget the KW W9!
Poor 1st gen Explorer in the same movie, but few care
DeLorean DMC-12.
Breaking Bad singlehandly made the Pontiac Aztec cool.
Technically, tv movies exist so it counts – the second-gen Pontiac Firebird Esprit. Preferably in gold.
How often does a mid-tier trim become that famous??
Stripes and the GMC Motorhome. So much so that among folks of a certain age, anytime I have to explain “GMC Motorhome” I add on “you know, the Stripes van”, and they know immediately what I’m talking about.
GMC Motorhome (aka EM-50) from Stripes
You posted while I was typing. 😉
I know one. S’got a cop motor, cop tires, cop shocks…and it was made before catalytics, so it goes good on regular gas.
Whaddya say, is it the new Bluesmobile or what?
Fix the lighter.
As co-host of Reels & Wheels, I feel required to answer with a whole lot of my picks here. I’ll end with a personal favorite, but here we go, in no particular order:
You left out a ’66 baby blue T-Bird convertible.
Yeah, we did an episode on Thelma & Louise. I guess I’ll give that one to you. Plenty of people probably bought that year Thunderbird thanks to the movie.
Ghostbusters 1959 Cadillac Ambulance wants a chat. On the small screen the Duke boys ’69 Charger and Knight Rider ’83 Trans Am. Also the A-Team GMC Van.
Yes! Meant to include the Miller Meteor that Ghostbuster put on the map! Good catch! Didn’t include the General Lee, KITT or the A-Team van because this was for movies not TV, all though we did cover KITT and the Dukes on Reels & Wheels.
Ecto 1 is a big movie omission, I’ll excuse the TV cars.
Such a great product tie up: Two companies milking a brighter past to sell derivative products that, while technically superior, don’t hold the same depth of lasting character.