Nissan Offers the American Flag at No Charge, and the Fourth of July Is Now an Option Box
Nissan launched a 250th Anniversary Edition Frontier: a monochromatic Stars and Stripes tailgate badge, 2,500 units, PRO-4X only, at no additional charge. Three columnists reached for the inbox at the same time.
Nissan said it is launching a 250th Anniversary Edition Frontier, limited to 2,500 units assembled through the month of July. The edition adds a monochromatic Stars and Stripes design to the tailgate at no additional charge, and is offered exclusively on PRO-4X models, including the short-wheelbase, long-wheelbase and Roush variants, across the existing exterior color lineup. The company said the edition coincides with the 1 millionth Frontier built at its Canton, Mississippi, plant, a milestone reported in Drive Observer on June 26. Nissan said Frontier retail sales were up 24% in May, its best May since 2010, at 6,773 units.
A free monochrome flag on the tailgate of a PRO-4X. Fine. It costs Nissan nothing, and a thing that costs nothing gets to claim everything. So it does.
But it lands the same week a million Frontiers rolled out of Canton, Mississippi, built by people. Not a marketing department. People, with hands, in a plant, in America.
One of those is worth saluting. The other is a sticker.
Grant the marketing department its win: a monochromatic Stars and Stripes on 2,500 tailgates, PRO-4X only, through July, at no additional charge. Patriotism shipped as an option box, the Fourth of July sold back as a trim level. The tell is in Nissan's own footnote: "Assembled in the United States with U.S. and imported parts." A company that hedges the word American across a hyphen has decided the holiday is a checkbox. The workers earned the salute. The bunting was free.
A flag has fifty stars, thirteen stripes, and two colors that mean things. Nissan, by its own account, kept the stars and the stripes and threw the colors away, pressing the most shouted graphic in American life into a single quiet tone on a tailgate. Done with conviction, monochrome is a designer whispering because he trusts you to lean in. This whispers because it has nothing to say. It does not honor the flag. It debosses it.
Editorial disclosure: Nissan flew three Drive Observer columnists to Canton, Mississippi, for an advance preview of the 250th Anniversary Edition tailgate badge. The plant tour included a complimentary hard hat, a commemorative Frontier keychain, and a luncheon at which sweet tea was available in unlimited quantities. Per our strict ethical policy, we do not let this influence our coverage.