• Detroit Free Press, Friday, February 10, 2012 9:22 AM

Chrysler CMO Olivier François said the "Halftime in America" Super Bowl ad was not designed to send any kind of political message nor was it a statement of support for President Barack Obama's re-election.

"There were absolutely no political intentions," François said in Chicago Wednesday. "The politicians can see political messages wherever they want, but we are not politicians." In the two-minute commercial, Eastwood talks about the challenges still facing America as both the country and Chrysler work to fully recover from the recession of 2008 and 2009. "It's all about uniting," François said. "There is nothing more neutral and nothing more universal."

He also said he and fellow Chrysler executives don't know why the company's Super Bowl commercial was taken down for hours from Chrysler's YouTube channel, but he's trying to solve the mystery. "We are investigating," François said. "It's a strange thing."

Read the whole story at Detroit Free Press »