Weekly Analysis- Week 4

Michael Jordan was arguably one of the best basketball players of all time. His presence on the basketball court was strong, but his presence as a marketing model was nearly as strong. His playing days are over; however, you will still see him on commercials for Hanes and Gatorade. This week we focused on heroes and celebrities and the importance of heroes and hero worship. Michael Jordan was and still is an example of hero worship.
Jordan was inducted into the National Basketball Hall of Fame this week. Jordan fits a lot of our discussion from this week. He was a hero and idol to many of today’s basketball superstars, namely Lebron James who wears Jordan’s number 23 as a tribute. Jordan was a celebrated icon of popular culture of yesterday mainly because of the hero worship. Knight (2006) detailed how Nike Corporation was able to turn their future around by signing Jordan to an endorsement deal in the mid-80’s and taking advantage the hero worship that society had of Michael Jordan. Do you remember the Air Jordan basketball shoe?
Jordan’s image as a pitchman is nearly as large as his as a basketball player. Jordan has endorsed food items, underwear, athletic gear, and other items during his heyday as a pitchman. Even Greenburg (2009) noted of Jordan’s induction speech at the National Basketball Hall of Fame “In this sometimes funny and sharp-edged speech, the world's most ubiquitous and successful corporate pitchman proved he was still human. He wasn't selling Nike or Gatorade or batteries or hot dogs”.
While Jordan was one of the best basketball players to ever walk on the hardwood, he was one that was able to incorporate his position in hero worship to create a very lucrative position for himself.
References:
Greenburg, J. (2009, September 11). Michael Jordan's Hall of Fame Speech. Retrieved September 13, 2009, from The Man Behind the Legend: 2009
Knight, P. (2006, November). Sell the dream. Retrieved September 9, 2009, from Management Today: EBSCOhost