My dad was an ad man, something I’ve been thinking about a lot lately as I’m watching “Mad Men” for the first time.

I appreciate the finesse and creativity of a great sales pitch, but I’m a big believer in truth in advertising.

No one can say Bruce Springsteen isn’t telling audiences exactly what they’re going to get on the tour he announced this week.

It’s called the “Land of Hope and Dreams” tour after one of Springsteen’s most anthemic, aspirational songs, but the poster also says “No Kings,” a popular rallying cry against the current administration.

If that wasn’t blunt enough, the 20-show tour starts in Minneapolis — let’s just say that city’s been in the news a lot lately — and ends at Nationals Park, about 3 miles from the White House in Washington, D.C.

It also includes shows on May 19 at Pittsburgh’s PPG Paints Arena (tickets go on sale at noon Saturday through Ticketmaster) and May 22 at Cleveland’s Rocket Arena (tickets go on sale at noon Saturday through Seat Geek).

Of course, the announcement brought out the usual “shut up and sing” crowd and the “I used to like Springsteen before he got political” social media posters.

For the former, why do you follow artists you clearly hate just to tell them how much you hate them? I don’t follow any musicians — or politicians, for that matter — that I can’t stand. I have no idea what, if any, “woke” product Kid Rock fired a machine gun at recently. If Facebook decided to put it in my feed anyway, I wouldn’t comment on it, I’d click, “Show me less of this.”

For the latter folks, does that mean you were a fan when he was in the bands The Castiles and Steel Mill?

My second and third Springsteen concerts were the final two dates of “The River” tour in Cincinnati in 1981. The setlist included covers of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Who’ll Stop the Rain” (hint: it’s not a song about the weather) and Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land.” It’s not a verse they taught us in elementary school, but Guthrie’s song includes the lyrics, “As I went walking I saw a sign there/And on the sign it said ‘No Trespassing.’/But on the other side it didn’t say nothing/That side was made for you and me.”

It’s not Springsteen’s fault that too many people went to the Ronald Reagan School of Song Lyric Interpretation. The verses are as important as the chorus in a song like “Born in the USA.”

Some of those covers of protest songs might make a comeback on this run of shows. I’d be surprised if they didn’t. It almost certainly will include songs like “Land of Hope and Dreams,” “The Rising” and “We Take Care of Our Own” as well as some of Springsteen’s most overtly political material, from “41 Shots” to the recently released “Streets of Minneapolis.”

Is “Streets of Minneapolis” a great song? Not really. It’s a first draft written in rage. They can’t all be “41 Shots.” That said, I watched a livestream of the “Defend Minnesota!” concert last month at First Avenue in Minneapolis, and “Streets of Minneapolis” worked better in front of an audience, even if it’s a song that will never be played again after 2026.

The show promised by this tour will appeal to a large contingent of Springsteen fans, but certainly not all of them. At least he’s letting them know in advance.

The only people who would have a right to complain is if they bought a ticket for the “No Kings” event and he played nothing but “Hungry Heart,” “Dancing in the Dark,” “Sherry Darling” and “Crush on You.”

Being surrounded by a likeminded crowd united by a common set of beliefs can be an intoxicating lure. That’s something both Springsteen and the current occupant of the White House know something about.

Andy Gray is the entertainment editor of Ticket. Write to him at agray@tribtoday.com