Gatorade's "Be Like Mike"

Gatorade’s “Be Like Mike” commercial is potentially the most iconic sports commercial of all time. It may also represent the most shameless, albeit effective use of the sporting celebrity and the sporting highlight in a commercial to date. Its creators craft an utterly happy atmosphere, one in which a plethora of distinct voices can be heard joyously singing phrases like “I want to be like Mike” and “Sometimes, I dream that he is me”. All the while, the viewer is being relentlessly hit with a bevy of famous Jordan highlights, cute kids/regular people trying to replicate his greatness, and generally amiable interactions between Jordan and others. The commercial is overwhelmingly, almost sickening, pleasant. It does, however, deliver a clear and concise message – if you want to be like Michael Jordan, drink Gatorade. In a sense, this commercial is emphasizing a truth. Michael Jordan likely does drink Gatorade, as do most athletes, and by drinking Gatorade, you are now more like him. To the incredibly naïve, this commercial instead says, “drink Gatorade and you will be able to play basketball like Michael Jordan,” which will most assuredly not be the case.

Jordan’s presence and highlights within the “Be Like Mike” commercial are unbelievably successful marketing tools. People generally desire association with things that are cool, exiting, dynamic, and culturally relevant. Michael Jordan and his highlights were all of these things. The commercial was first aired during the summer of 1991, right after the conclusion of the NBA’s 1990/1991 season. Jordan had just been crowned the finals MVP, the regular season MVP, and the Bulls had won the NBA Championship. Jordan was undoubtedly one of the most famous athletes in the world. But, he was more than just immensely successful, he was cool and colorful, an obvious choice for a product spokesman. Gatorade’s decision to have Jordan appear in their commercials proved to be a shrewd business move as it helped launch the product into unprecedented success. This was largely due to Jordan’s natural salesmanship. He didn’t have to be a textbook salesman, instead he just had to continue being cool and relevant, which he did. People truly did want to “be like Mike” and that’s why this commercial was so successful.