Last night's Super Bowl in San Francisco gave some great coverage of the sights and attractions in the city by the bay. But Chicago got a little bit of love during the most-watched sporting event of the year in the form of a Toyota Prius commercial.
The ad, which inexplicably featured three actors who starred in the second season of The Wire, shows four bank robbers who steal a Prius as a getaway car and drive it across the nation, never having to stop for gas (because the car is so fuel efficient, get it?) and becoming national heroes in the process. The first 45 seconds of the ad offers some pretty stunning shots of LaSalle Street in the Financial District, the downtown riverfront and the El tracks on Lake Street.
The commercial drew a good bit of criticism after it aired, mostly because people tend to get up in arms about the glorification of felony criminals. But hey, Chicago looked pretty magnificent in the spot. A Super Bowl isn't coming to town any time soon, but at least the powers that be found a way to shove some of Chicago's sights into more than 100 million screens.