Michael Jordan’s Super Bowl ad imagines a world without Jordans

A corporate bean counter named Lawrence H sits in a dusty Nike boardroom, staring at a $5,000 fine like it's a personal affront to his quarterly budget. Little does he know, his hypothetical penny-pinching could have obliterated an entire cultural universe. 

In a bold marketing stroke that revisits one of the most iconic moments in sportswear history, Jordan Brand has launched a provocative advertising campaign that challenges the very foundation of its global empire, asking a tantalising question: What if Nike had never paid the NBA's controversial fine for Michael Jordan's rebellious footwear?

For those unaware, In 1985, the National Basketball Association (NBA) formally warned Jordan about violating the league's dress code, specifically targeting the Nike basketball shoes in black and red—the Air Jordans.

Nike's revolutionary response was to absorb the financial penalty, transforming what could have been a regulatory setback into one of the most brilliant marketing campaigns in modern commercial history.

And the brand’s latest Super Bowl ad plays on that nostalgia while trying to imagine a world where that fine was never paid and the brand Jordan was never born. The result? A complete reimagining of sports, fashion, and cultural history.

Set to Queen's Another One Bites the Dust, the advertisement dramatically unravels a world without the transformative Air Jordan.

The narrative suggests that without this watershed moment, entire cultural phenomena would cease to exist: no sneakerhead culture, no global sports fashion revolution, and, notably, no catchphrases from artists like DJ Khaled or Travis Scott that have become intrinsically linked to sneaker culture.

It's part historical revisionism, part marketing brilliance, and entirely a trolling masterpiece. By highlighting the potential non-existence of this iconic brand, the ad paradoxically reinforces its cultural significance.

And why wouldn’t it? Michael Jordan is perhaps the first sportsperson to have transcended his sport in ways that led to a multi-billion dollar empire that he is still a part of. 

Michael Jordan receives a 5% royalty on sales from the Jordan Brand. This is part of his licensing deal with Nike. He earned $256 million from the Jordan Brand in 2022.

Despite the campaign's creative brilliance, the brand has not escaped criticism. Sneaker enthusiasts have expressed frustration with the extremely limited product release—a mere 10,000 pairs distributed across just 23 stores in the United States.

This scarcity has led some fans to sarcastically suggest that the shoes might as well remain "banned".

By the way, the brand actually teased this campaign during Christmas with a shorter cut of the ad film. This was to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Air Jordan. The brand even aired an animated video titled ‘Origin Story’, which went into the making of the brand Jordan as we know it today.

.@Jumpman23 kicks off 40 year celebration of the Air Jordan series 🔥 pic.twitter.com/3L5NQwnvPm

— Complex Sneakers (@ComplexSneakers) December 23, 2024