How to “Be Like Mike:” Michael Jordan’s Cultural Impact Through Clever Advertising (Case Study)

Introduction

Athletes on the professional level have always had an impressionable influence on people all over the world, through their high level of athletic talent, as well as their ability to perform in high level situations. Sports and advertising go hand-in-hand with how they impact audiences across the globe. The impact of professional sports are “...global, yet local and particular. It is exciting for consumers because of its uncertainty of outcome, yet attractive to producers and advertisers because it is increasingly certain in terms of scheduling, rules and commercial breaks” (Andrews & Jackson, 2004). While some professionals have had immense success in connecting with their fans, not many have had as massive of an impact in all realms of the sports world like Michael Jordan. Jordan, who is considered by many to be the greatest basketball player of all time, has had a lasting generational impact that will most likely continue long after his death. Jordan is ranked near the top of several important NBA stat lines, including fourth in steals and fifth in points. 

The rise of “His Airness” was capitalized not just by the NBA, but by numerous marketing agencies and advertising organizations, looking to grow their brand on a global scale. While Jordan has worked with countless, famous brands, like Nike, McDonald’s, and Hanes, one advertising campaign has stood the test of time as the most notable in his many years as a basketball icon.In the late 1990s, during the prime of MJ’s basketball career, the Gatorade brand was looking to capitalize on a new advertisement idea to help fuel their product. Bayer Bess Vanderwarker, which was the agency who created the Be Like Mike campaign, was bought out by the Quaker Oats brand, which helped fuel the sports drink to a leader in the industry (Wall Street Journal, 1996). The ascent of Gatorade’s product lifted their budget for marketing significantly over the next few years. According to the New York Times (1991), at the time, Gatorade controlled about “...90 percent of the market, using a formidable mix of new products, packages, flavors and sports promotions backed by $30 million in advertising and guidance from its parent, the Quaker Oats Company.” 

With a surplus in their marketing budget, they capitalized on their opportunity and began discussions with Jordan and his agent, David Falk, about a 10-year contract with the sports drink giant. After signing with Gatorade, the Be Like Mike campaign was born, and was originally aired on August 8, 1991. Despite several hiccups in the process, the commercial became an instant classic, and Jordan’s association with being relatable to Gatorade consumers and basketball fans alike made the campaign stand out among its competitors. In this study, we show how the lasting impact of the cultural influence of the Be Like Mike campaign has been done several times throughout the years, including its various recreations and comedic interpretations. These reiterations of the original 1991 commercial and its prominence demonstrate the lasting impact with the everyday person, how the humanization of the athlete is showcased in advertisements, and how Jordan’s legacy extended well beyond playing the game of basketball.

Breaking Down the Be Like Mike Commercial (1991)

In the 60 second commercial, the opening intro fades from black to a clip of Michael Jordan finishing a layup against the Los Angeles Lakers. This sequence was not just any bucket from Jordan; it was during Game 2 of the 1991 NBA Finals, which happened just two months before the airing of the advertisement. The viewer also can hear some original music, with instruments like the xylophone and the whistle present. Ira Antelis was the composer for the tune of the Be Like Mike commercial, but the team ran into some different ideas early on in the process of creating the advertisement. Notably, Antelis’s previous work included writing the “I’m Lovin’ It” jingle that is synonymous with McDonald’s advertising, with Gatorade wanting a similar, iconic tune that viewers can associate to their product. One of the first things that the marketing team tried was to “...air Jordan footage set to the tune of "I Wanna Be Like You" from the Disney movie The Jungle Book. However, as they tend to do, negotiations for rights to the song fell through” (Evans, 2016). Although the song rights with Disney did not go according to plan, Antelis was able to curate a song for the commercial, sticking with viewers and other organizations throughout the years.

The next clip shows Jordan smiling on the bench with the beginning of the lyrics of the Be Like Mike song, which was written by Antelis. The song plays throughout the rest of the commercial, which repeats: “Sometimes I dream/That he is me/You've got to see that's how I dream to be/I dream I move,/I dream I groove,/Like Mike/If I could be like Mike.” After a dunk by Jordan, the perspective of the commercial changes, as the audience is now at a local park, with basketball courts in the back. A young man is seen dunking the basketball, with notably, his tongue sticking out as he is scoring the basket. The camera cuts to a group of men, from teenagers to young adults, goofing around with the basketball, while also holding up different flavored Gatorade drinks in their hands. All of the men are of different races, and all are wearing different apparel in the video. There is a closeup of a Gatorade bottle that follows, with Jordan presumably behind the beverage. This is because in the following clip, Jordan is wearing very similar attire as the person in the closeup of the Gatorade bottle.

In the next part of the commercial, Jordan is seen playing defense against a small boy at the local basketball courts. From there, the viewer stays in the park with the first appearance of a female extra, as she goes to make a layup in a game of pickup against other young girls. Just like the sequence featuring the man dunking the basketball towards the beginning, this girl is seen with her tongue out as well, as she scores the bucket. At the :21 second mark, Jordan is seen back in an NBA arena, throwing down a dunk against the Boston Celtics. Quickly after this segment, there is another young child trying a complicated layup at the same park. At the :25 second mark, the audience sees its first glimpse of Jordan holding the Gatorade product, smiling and laughing with others around him in an indoor gym. While in the indoor gym, Jordan is seen playing some more basketball with some other men, who seem to be older than the ones in the park setting.

Jordan is also seen goofing off with the basketball, like the group of men from earlier in the commercial. The viewer returns back to a medium shot of Jordan laughing with others in the background, but this time is holding a Gatorade sports bottle, instead of the glass container that has been seen throughout the entirety of the commercial. The scene cuts back to the park, but this time with an older woman, who is trying to score a layup off her defender. The ad quickly cuts and shows her drinking a Gatorade, as she's walking away from the camera. Jordan is then seen playing around with children of different races and genders, tipping the basketball away from their reaching hands. Next, there is a close-up shot of an orange Gatorade bottle in front of a portable drink cooler, which then leads to another scene of a child taking a layup in a recreational game of basketball at the park. At the :44 second mark, Jordan is seen yet again drinking a Gatorade (glass), smiling after taking a sip.

The last parts of the commercial include a huge group of people (including everyone from the commercial), who make up various ages and races, shooting what appears to be a halfcourt shot with Jordan at the recreational courts at the park. At the :49 second point in the advertisement, Gatorade includes a clip of what is coined as “The Shot,” where Jordan makes a mid-range jump shot at the buzzer in a 1989 NBA playoff game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, where Jordan does an iconic celebration, jumping in the air and throwing his arm around his body. Finally, the Be Like Mike commercial ends with Jordan looking at the camera in the indoor gym, holding a cup of Gatorade, with the commercial ending by cutting to black. On the cut, there are bold letters that say “BE LIKE MIKE. DRINK GATORADE.”

Since we have now broken down the physical elements of the commercial, this study will now focus on the intangible aspects of Michael Jordan’s persona, which has been best exemplified through the Be Like Mike commercial. The humanization of one of the greatest to ever play the game alongside the emotional response from his portrayal in various forms of media will be the cornerstone of this study. Who Jordan was on the court, and the way he was showcased in recent memory are unlike most athletes, and it's one of the prime examples of the way people can attach themselves to the heroes they look up to.

Method

To showcase how Michael Jordan’s influence has been perceived over the years, how the Be Like Mike campaign fueled his rise as a cultural icon, and the way his likeness has been masterfully displayed across generations, this study did a deep dive across the internet for recreations of Jordan in various settings. We used Google and other media databases to see where Jordan was showcased in the media. While Gatorade did recreate the Be Like Mike advertisement over the years because of its immense success, this study will also focus on other iterations of Jordan. For example, many different cartoons, including The Simpsons and Family Guy, understood his relevance and made several references to his character in their shows.

To get a full grasp of Jordan’s magnitude in mass media, we viewed the best examples across movies, advertisements, television shows, and more, to get an overview of how these forms of media portrayed Jordan. We then answered several questions (Table 1) that helped give a more clear understanding on how it was made and why Jordan was presented like he was in that specific medium. From there, we gathered the most common answers and compared the similarities to Jordan and how these forms of art elevated his relatability.

What medium?	TV Show (Animated)
	TV Show (Live-Action)
	Movie (Animated)
	Movie (Live-Action)
	Advertisement
What is the context of the scene?	(Context)
Was the scene relatable to the viewer?	Yes
	No
Was Jordan in the segment/scene?	Yes
	No
When was it released?	After 1991
	2000-2010
	2010-Present Day
What emotion was most present?	(Explain emotion that is present)

Table 1: Questions to help categorize Michael Jordan’s presence in mass media

For any questions that need a full length answer (such as the “What is the context of the scene?” and the “What emotion was most present?” questions), we tried to answer them as simply as possible, to help ensure our “gut reaction” to what was being seen. For the segment/scene that did not include Jordan, if they did not efficiently answer all the questions, they were discarded and not included in the study. Also, we focused on forms of media after the release date of the Be Like Mike commercial. Our goal was to see the overall impact of the commercial and see Jordan’s cultural significance from 1991 to the present.

Results/Discussion

This study has already broken down the scenes of the Be Like Mike and how it was shot, but this section will focus on the significance of those scenes, including the six other scenes that were chosen. We will compare the responses with each other in the next section, but this part of the study will look at the emotional messages the authors of these media images are trying to portray to their audiences.

In Be Like Mike, the commercial embodies intense emotions of joyfulness, happiness, and inspiration in the eyes of viewers. Throughout the whole advertisement, Jordan is only referred to as “Mike,” never by his full name or by one of his many nicknames. By using “Mike,” Gatorade is able to give a relatable title to one of the biggest basketball stars on the planet. Viewers can see themselves as being friends with “Mike,” which drives the engagement of the rest of the commercial. From there, Gatorade leads the rest of the advertisement by focusing on the supporting cast surrounding Jordan. Not only are there children seen playing with “Mike” at the local basketball courts, but also, the children encompass every race and gender; all of them are seen laughing and smiling with the basketball star. In turn, Jordan is interacting with them in return, even playing basketball with the children or playfully knocking the ball away from their hands.

The commercial’s impact extended well-beyond the younger extras, but it reached into other crucial points of Gatorade’s advertisement. The two teenagers/young adults scoring a layup exemplify a very iconic mannerism, popularized by Jordan in the NBA. In several plays, Jordan is seen sticking out his tongue in various layups or dunks during his NBA career. The man and woman seen dunking and scoring a layup both have their tongue out. This implies to the audience Jordan’s impact across all generations, as well as how people see themselves as “Mike” when playing basketball. One of the last final connections that the commercial displays to its audience is the association of happy moments with Gatorade’s product. When viewers first see Jordan’s face, he is seen with a Gatorade bottle, smiling at the camera and seemingly enjoying the beverage. Without any association with his basketball skills (besides the opening layup), viewers immediately associate the iconic sports beverage with the iconic superstar. And, since the rest of the advertisement advocates for seeing “Mike” as a “normal,” relatable person, Gatorade can be seen as a way to “be like Mike” and a tangible method to achieve his elite status.

Space Jam, which released into theaters in 1996, and shot Jordan’s name into the stars as an actor. Based upon his change from basketball to baseball in his life, Jordan is recruited by Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes to defeat an alien force coming to take over their world in a game of basketball. It is a mix of animation and live-action, and was heavily promoted to families wanting to find an enjoyable movie they could all watch together. The movie capitalized off the peak of the NBA’s success with its “poster child” as the leading man. Within this film, there are several instances where Jordan is seen as relatable to the average viewer.

In this animated feature, Space Jam and Jordan embody the emotions of longing, courage, triumph, and even some fear of the unknown. When all hope looks lost towards the situation for the Looney Tunes, Jordan’s appearance displays a level of hope that individuals can relate to throughout the story. This is then followed by the courageous journey Jordan goes on to train the Looney Tunes in their preparation to play against the “Monstars.” It’s a story about the misfits being able to have their shot at being on top, which is characterized through the zany interactions  between the NBA star and the cast of cartoon characters. Space Jam also mentions a very real aspect of his life that movie-goers can relate to in dark times: the loss of a loved one. 

In a fatal shooting done by Daniel Green and Larry Demery, they were both charged with “...​​ killing the basketball legend’s father on July 23, 1993, during a botched robbery. Both were 18 years old at the time of the murder” (Burke, 2024). It’s a very short mention, but it’s a key addition to the story, as the reasoning behind his short stint playing professional baseball “...was a tribute to his father, who loved baseball and thought his son could follow in the footsteps of two-sport stars Deion Sanders and Bo Jackson” (Wulf, 2020). Seeing an individual who has been praised so much in popular culture showcasing their struggles for the masses to view exudes the courageous mentality that individuals can relate to, even in a movie like Space Jam. As the movie concludes with Jordan dunking the ball as time expired, viewers were able to see a denouement of his journey in the film, and his heroism was one of the key elements people of all ages took from the 1996 movie.

In the animated television show category, two examples emerged as the candidates for

this study. Family Guy, which is an animated adult comedy, released an episode titled “Our Idiot Brian” on January 11, 2015. During this episode, Brian and Stewie are watching the television, when the television narrator says, “We now return to another Michael Jordan underwear commercial on a plane for some reason.” Jordan is featured in the advertisement, asking one of the paying passengers if their underwear had any tags. He is then scolded by the flight attendant, who is asking Jordan why he would ask passengers that question. This sequence is a reference to Jordan and his several commercials he was part of in his partnership with Hane’s. The theme of these commercials dealt with Hane’s products not having tags in their underwear apparel. Although this scene is not inherently relatable, the humor in the scene about Jordan’s superstar status in areas beyond basketball is apparent. It’s a way for Family Guy to poke fun about Jordan’s character, without disrupting the audience’s perception of his reputation.

The other animated television show that was featured in our study was South Park, which is another animated adult comedy show. On March 17, 2010, the show released an episode titled “Sexual Healing,” which featured a gag regarding a sexual rehabilitation class. In this class, several noteworthy celebrities are in attendance, like Ben Roethlisberger, Bill Clinton, and Micheal Jordan, among others. Everyone in the room was significant since they all dealt with some form of sexual misconduct allegations. Jordan divorced from his wife, Juanita Vanoy,  in 2006 and she “...received a $168 million payout — although Jordan was granted ownership of their Chicago mansion” (Gurley, 2023). There are some outlets that mention an alleged sexual harassment claim with Jordan, so nothing is for certain, but the creators of South Park seemed to believe the claims. Either way, this is the one example that does not paint Jordan in a heroic light, as it is saying that Jordan is addicted to sex, and may have had some legal issues regarding it in his life.

SNL seized Jordan’s reign as a superstar, by allowing him to be a guest on the live sketch comedy show in 1991, just one month after the Be Like Mike ad campaign. In a skit titled, “Daily Affirmation,” Jordan is meeting with a psychiatrist, who specializes in positive reinforcement through giving oneself encouraging words. The psychiatrist believes Jordan needs to work on his emotional side by giving himself encouragement, and assuming that he does not believe in himself. Humorously, Jordan knows of his talent, but eventually gives into the training in a funny montage. Besides these emotions, there is a level of irony alongside this conversation, considering Jordan was in the prime of his career when this segment aired. Although the situation is not entirely relatable, Jordan did admit to getting nervous sometimes before big games. Jordan admitting this showcased a personal side to his character, indicating that he, like many others, gets fearful in situations that seem daunting. Also, Jordan did not have to go on SNL, a show that is based on sketch comedy, which Jordan was never known for; by doing so, he was able to put aside any preconceived notions about being on the show, as he ended up appearing on SNL for the viewing pleasure of the public.

The last two findings for this study were both advertisements that included Jordan. Groove Like Mike was a revision of the original Be Like Mike campaign, which was done in honor of the 50th anniversary of Gatorade. In this updated version of the original commercial, there are new additions that stand out to viewers. First, there is an updated score involving the original lyrics, which is cleverly done to reach multiple generations; it’s a respectful nod to the past, while also changing the beat to connect with newer viewers, since this was released in 2015. This new advertisement was mostly animated, added bright colors throughout, to bring emphasis to the eye of the viewer. On top of this, Gatorade added several new animated clips of the success from Jordan and the Chicago Bulls throughout the years, including shots of their two three-peats of NBA titles. By paying homage to Jordan’s success, Gatorade is able to get viewers to connect with their product, showcasing how Gatorade has been with the NBA legend every step of the way.

The second finding was another notable advertisement in Jordan’s lengthy career with endorsements. In Nike’s commercial titled, “Failure,” Jordan is doing a voiceover of some hard truths he’s had to face during his years playing in the NBA. Jordan reads over this quote during the entirety of the commercial: “I've missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” By saying these words, Jordan invokes a sense of encouragement and understanding for individuals who have also gone through tough circumstances. This advertisement is able to clearly relate to Nike’s audience, by seeing Jordan as someone who embodies perseverance and triumph, despite what the opposition says.

The seven media perspectives of Jordan had a tie for the majority: two of the seven media perspectives were animated television shows, and two were advertisements. The general consensus for feelings were of happiness and courage, as well as perseverance and triumph. Besides the outlier of the full-length movie, Jordan was on-screen (including when he did not speak) for approximately 43% of the time. The biggest outliers in the data were the Family Guy and South Park episode. Since we took the entirety of these episodes, alongside the entirety of the other media perspectives, they were drastically low percentages that were incorporated into our data. If we took the other clips and disregarded the shows, Jordan’s percentage of screen time would increase to 64%.

Conclusion

Showcasing highly esteemed individuals in advertising is a massively effective strategy for these massive corporations. For example, in a study looking at Cristiano Ronaldo, researchers through the Journal of Education and Training Studies found that “... modern consumers are bombarded with advertising messages both in and outside the public arena, which reduces the effectiveness of advertisements and the recall of messages. The use of celebrity in advertising is also very influential on remembering the advertising messages sent, as well as positively contributing to the brand's image and reputation (Bowman, 2002; Shimp, 2003)” (Balci & Özgen, 2017). Jordan’s significance has been widespread over the course of his time in the NBA and beyond, and this study showcases a glimpse of his cultural impact across several generations. The impact of his partnership beginning with the Be Like Mike campaign showcases his transformation from just a basketball player to a global icon, becoming one of the most recognizable figures of all time.

In the middle of this rise, advertisers and marketing agencies were quick to attach themselves to the NBA’s biggest star, as Jordan’s reach well surpassed multiple industries, providing himself as a vessel for a diverse audience to find a piece of themselves through him. The business heads and agents surrounding Jordan”... have successfully produced, packaged, marketed and distributed his image and commodified his symbolic worth, transforming cultural capital into cash, influence, prestige, status and wealth” (Dyson, 1993). These campaigns were not only able to use Jordan’s likeness as a way to connect themselves with Jordan and fanbase of millions, but also, using him strategically as the focal point of massive corporations gave way to a seamless transition for consumers to be invested in the product. His humanization and the way Jordan became “attainable” in his outstanding qualities as a basketball player and a person were demonstrated significantly through clever advertising and other forms of media. From everytime Jordan is displayed on television, his image is reinforced by the concept of excellence, via significantly powerful emotions that the “normal person” can resonate with. Overall, Jordan encapsulated audiences with his legacy, through the clever use of media appearances in television, animation, advertisements, and more.