Jordan is one of the most marketed sports figures in history
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been a major spokesman for such brands as Nike, Coca-Cola, Chevrolet,
Gatorade, McDonald's, Ball Park Franks, Rayovac, Wheaties, Hanes, and
MCI.[106] Jordan has had a long relationship with Gatorade, appearing
in over 20 commercials for the company since 1991, including the "Like
Mike" commercials in which a song was sung by children wishing to be
like Jordan.
Jordan has also appeared in a music video, "Jam" by the pop singer
Michael Jackson. The video showed Jordan teaching Jackson how to play
basketball, in return Jackson taught Jordan how to dance.
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Nike created a signature shoe for him, called the Air Jordan. One of
Jordan's more popular commercials for the shoe involved Spike Lee
playing the part of Mars Blackmon. In the commercials Lee, as
Blackmon, attempted to find the source of Jordan's abilities and
became convinced that "it's gotta be the shoes." The hype and demand
for the shoes even brought on a spate of "shoe-jackings" where people
were robbed of their sneakers at gunpoint. Subsequently Nike spun off
the Jordan line into its own division named appropriately the "Jordan
Brand." The company features an impressive list of athletes and
celebrities as endorsers. The brand has also sponsored college sports
programs such as those of North Carolina, Cincinnati, Cal, St. John's,
Georgetown, and North Carolina A & T.
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Jordan and the Looney Tunes in Space Jam.Jordan also has been
connected with the Looney Tunes cartoon characters. A Nike commercial
shown during the 1993 Super Bowl XXVII featured Jordan and Bugs Bunny
playing basketball against a group of Martian characters. The Super
Bowl commercial inspired the 1996 live action/animated movie Space
Jam, which starred Michael and Bugs in a fictional story set during
his first retirement. They have subsequently appeared together in
several commercials for MCI.
Jordan's income from the endorsements is estimated to be several
hundred million dollars. In a addition, when Jordan's power at the
ticket gates was at its highest point the Bulls regularly sold out
every game they played in, whether home or away. Due to this, Jordan
set records in player salary by signing annual contracts worth in
excess of $30 million US dollars per season.
Most of Jordan's endorsement deals, including the first deal with
Nike, were engineered by his agent, David Falk. Jordan has said of
Falk that "he's the best at what he does," and that "marketing-wise,
he's great. He's the one who came up with the concept of 'Air
Jordan.'"