  We consider real and complex scalar fields non-minimally coupled to gravity
in the bulk spacetime and study their impact on the brane upon acquiring a
non-vanishing vacuum expectation value. When examining the case of the complex
scalar field, a minimally coupled U(1) gauge field is also considered so that
spontaneous symmetry breaking can take place. Particular attention is paid to
the terms arising from the junction conditions, which act towards reinforcing
the mechanism of spontaneous symmetry breaking. We find that the embedding of a
braneworld universe in a bulk spacetime endowed with matter fields can induce
this mechanism at very high energies, which implies the localization on the
brane of the bulk fields.
