With sales of Aerosmith’s latest album Just Push Play stalled at about 1.7 million, the band is hoping its sponsorship association with Dodge will help promote the album. The group’s tour is being sponsored by the company’s Ram Truck division, and Just Push Play’s title track is heard on Dodge’s latest ad campaign.
Guitarist Brad Whitford said that Aerosmith was inspired by artists such as Sting and Moby, who used auto commercials to help sell music that radio stations and MTV weren’t necessarily supporting. “It certainly has worked for some of the other groups in the past, and now that it’s an acceptable form of sort of selling yourselves, being on TV commercials, Christ, I’ve heard everything from Stevie Ray to Cream to…it’s unbelievable what you see in a car commercial these days for music. I love it. Car commercials and great guitar riffs-that’s right up my alley, being a car freak.”
So does the Dodge deal include trucks for Whitford and his bandmates? “Well, they told me I was, but I haven’t seen it yet. Actually, yeah, they did throw in a couple of vehicles. That’s always a nice thing.”