The Top 10 Greatest Michael Jordan Commercials Of All Time

When it comes to marketability, no NBA player has ever been more marketable than Michael Jordan. In the late 1980s and 1990s, you couldn’t turn on your TV without seeing a commercial featuring MJ.   

Jordan promoted many different brands, from his Jordan Brand with Nike to Gatorade and many more. No athlete sold a product like Mike, and his commercials were always very entertaining.

In today’s article, we are going to go through and pick out the 10 best commercials featuring Michael Jordan. Without further ado, here are the 10 best Michael Jordan commercials.

Honorable Mention

Nike: Man Was Not Meant To Fly

For the greatest commercials featuring Michael Jordan, we have to mention the first commercial that featured him. This is a Nike commercial titled “Man Was Not Meant To Fly.”

The commercial starts by showing Jordan’s Air Jordan I shoes, MJ’s first signature shoe with Nike. A ball rolls to Jordan, who is wearing the shoes. He kicks the ball up to himself and runs toward the basketball.  

Jordan then proceeds to soar through the air, going for a slam dunk. As Jordan does this, the sound of an airplane taking off can be heard.

After Jordan dunks the ball, MJ says, “Who says, man was not meant to fly?” in a voiceover.

Then the classic wing Jordan logo appears. This commercial doesn’t make our top 10 list, but we must mention it since it was Jordan’s first commercial.

10. Nike: Banned

The 1985 Nike commercial simply titled “Banned” is, like its title, a simple commercial. The commercial simply shows MJ bouncing a basketball and tossing it back and forth through his hands.

Jordan doesn’t say a word or move other than bouncing the ball. Then, a narrator speaks, giving the viewer the details of why the Air Jordan I shoes were banned in the NBA.

“On Sept. 15, Nike created a revolutionary new basketball shoe. On Oct. 18, the NBA threw them out of the game,” the narrator says as a camera pans to Jordan’s shoes. “Fortunately, the NBA can’t stop you from wearing them.”

Black blocks are then placed over the shoes, again indicating the shoes were banned by the league, which they were for not having enough white in them. This anti-establishment message really resonated with people, and it helped Nike grow as a business.

9. Jordan Brand: Failure

The 1997 Jordan Brand commercial titled “Failure” is one of the most inspiring commercials of any kind that you will see. In the commercial, Jordan gets out of his car and greets the Paparazzi.

It appears MJ is on his way to the arena to get ready for a basketball game. This isn’t what makes the commercial so good. It’s the commentary Jordan says in the voiceover.

“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.”

This saying by Jordan can lift anyone up from having a bad day. It also shows the mindset of Jordan and how it led to him becoming the greatest basketball player we’ve ever seen.

8. Nike: Hare Jordan

When it comes to Michael Jordan and Looney Tunes, everyone thinks of the classic 1996 movie Space Jam. The thing is, Space Jam was not the first time Jordan shared the screen with a Looney Tune character.

The 1993 Nike commercial titled “Hare Jordan” put Jordan and Bugs Bunny, who was wearing the Air Jordan VII, took on a bunch of weekend warrior players who were bullying Bugs. This ad premiered during Super Bowl XXVI, which saw the Washington Redskins take on the Buffalo Bills.

After Jordan and Bugs defeat their opponents, the two walk off together, and Bugs says, “This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” How right Bugs would be.

7. Nike: Is It The Shoes?

The 1991 Nike commercial featuring Michael Jordan and filmmaker Spike Lee is a classic. The commercial took a character from Spike Lee’s first feature film, She’s Gotta Have It, and made him into the star, along with Jordan, in the commercial.

The character Mars Blackmon, which Spike played in the movie, is asking Jordan how he became the best in the universe in the commercial. Mars asks Jordan different questions, including, “Is it the vicious dunks, and is it the haircut?”

The most notable question Mars asks, and he asks it eight times, is whether it’s the shoes Jordan wears that makes him the best. Jordan replies, “No, Mars,” to each question, but Mars keeps harping at MJ, believing the Air Jordan shoes from Nike have to be the reason MJ is so good.

Jordan may say the shoes are not the reason why he is so good. Still, seeing Mars holding some Jordans sure makes you want to buy a pair.

6. McDonald’s: The Showdown

The McDonald’s commercial “The Showdown” is more commonly known as the Bird vs. Jordan commercial. This is the classic ad that shows Larry Bird challenging Michael Jordan to a game of H-O-R-S-E for a chance to win Mike’s Big Mac meal.

This commercial was shown in two parts during the 1993 Super Bowl between the Buffalo Bills and the Dallas Cowboys. While most wanted to know the outcome of the football game, others wanted to know who’d win in the H-O-R-S-E matchup between Bird and Jordan.

Of course, before the game started, Bird had to lay out a pretty big rule to make the match a little fairer:

“First one to miss watches the winner eat. No dunking!” Larry said in the commercial.

The game was on, and the two basketball superstars would shoot ridiculous shots throughout the commercial, nailing every single shot. This commercial is successful at showing how good a Big Mac must be if these two stars will do anything they can to win it.

Legend says Jordan and Bird are still playing the game today. If that were true, I’m sure we’d all tune in to watch it.

5. Jordan Brand: Maybe It’s My Fault

In 2008, Michael Jordan had been retired for five years, but he continued to inspire basketball players all over the world. This was another commercial that played to one of Jordan’s strengths, which is to inspire others.

The commercial shows different scenarios from MJ’s life, like the gym where he worked out at, to both the North Carolina and Laney High School locker rooms, which are his college, and high school.

Jordan beautifully narrates this saying, suggesting he possibly ruined the game of basketball by being so great:

“Maybe it’s my fault. Maybe I led you to believe it was easy, when it wasn’t. Maybe I made you think my highlights started at the free throw line, and not in the gym.

Maybe I made you think that every shot I took was a game-winner. That my game was built on flash, and not fire. Maybe it’s my fault that you didn’t see that failure gave me strength.

That my pain was my motivation. Maybe I led you to believe that basketball was a God given gift, and not something I worked for, every single day of my life. Maybe I destroyed the game.”

Then, the commercial cuts to Jordan standing in front of a group of teenage basketball players. This is where Jordan inspires the players and the viewers at the same time with this statement:

“Or maybe, you just making excuses.”

Again, the Jordan Brand is capitalizing on Michael Jordan’s ability to inspire others, and this ad campaign has helped to grow the Jordan Brand into the powerhouse it is today. If there’s one thing we can say is that it never gets old hearing a pep talk from the G.O.A.T.

4. Gatorade: 23 vs. 39

The Super Bowl is one of the biggest sporting events of the entire year. It seems like everyone watches, including people who are not football fans.

Many people watch just to see the new and exciting commercials that play throughout the game. It has become a tradition in America to see the commercials, which usually go above and beyond on Super Bowl Sunday.

The 2003 Super Bowl between the Oakland Raiders and the eventual champions, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, saw one of the greatest commercials featuring Michael Jordan. The commercial pitted the “old” 39-year-old Wizards Jordan vs. his “young” 23-year-old prime Chicago Bulls self.

The two played each other in a game of 1-on-1, and the young Jordan showcased his physical ability to drive past the older MJ and finish with high-flying slam dunks. The older MJ wouldn’t be outdone, though.

The Wizards Jordan showed his more enhanced knowledge, from being older, tricking the Bulls Jordan into looking at his shirt before firing a jumper in his face.

At the end, the two MJs are sitting, drinking their Gatorades, when “UNC MJ” shows up and asks, “who’s got next?” Old MJ proceeds to tell young MJ to go play. This commercial was fun and helped us reminisce on Jordan’s younger, more dominant Chicago Bulls days.

The CGI in the commercial is great, as it really looked like Jordan as his younger self. Yet, another Gatorade commercial using Jordan beautifully inspired us all to drink their product and to be like Mike (more on that to come).

3. Jordan Brand: What Is Love?

In Michael Jordan’s final NBA season, which was the 2002-03 season as a member of the Washington Wizards, the season became a tribute to Jordan. Teams and the entire league honored Jordan for the incredible career he had, which was fitting for all Jordan brought to the game.

The commercial that premiered during Jordan’s last All-Star Game in 2003 showcased what Jordan had done in his career beautifully. “What is Love?” is the title of the Jordan Brand commercial that caught all our eyes, and we stopped what we were doing to watch.

This was no small feat as the full commercial was 4 minutes and 30 seconds long, but it is worth it to watch every single second of the commercial. The commercial starts with the narration by MJ, asking, what is love?

It shows highlights of Jordan’s career, from being a rookie to hitting his famous game-winner against the Cavs in 1989. It continues on to Jordan winning his first title, retirement to return, to his last shot as a member of the Bulls.

Finally, it ends with Jordan highlights as a Wizards while showing Jordan sitting in his Wizards gear, getting ready to check into a game. At the end, Jordan claps hands as he walks to check into the game, and the Jordan narrator says, “What is love? Love is playing every game as if it’s your last.”

The commercial was promoting the Air Jordan XVIII shoes, and it achieved that in an inspiring and entertaining way. This is why it is ranked third on our list of the best MJ commercials.

2. Jordan Brand: Frozen Moment

What can we say about this Jordan Brand commercial dubbed “Frozen Moment?” The commercial was from Nike and its Jordan Brand, which became a subsidiary of Nike in 1997.

The commercial, which premiered in 1996, just in time for the 1996-97 season, and the commercial was showcasing the Air Jordan XII shoe, which would later, in red and black, be the shoe Jordan famously wore in his “Flu Game” against the Utah Jazz in the 1997 NBA Finals.

In this commercial, Jordan wears the black and white model, and the commercial itself is very simple, with no talking by Jordan or anyone, including no voiceover, as well. What the commercial does well is it captures the essence of watching Jordan play during his prime.

The commercial shows Jordan playing against the Los Angeles Lakers in a fictional game. MJ makes a patent Jordan Spin move to get back his defender, and his moves are all in slow motion.

As Jordan is making his moves, the commercial shows people in the middle of doing everyday things, stopping to watch Jordan play. One incident shows a man in the middle of shaving, stopping to watch Jordan while the water runs and overflows in the sink.

This was exactly how it was when Jordan played. We all stopped what we were doing to watch him play, to witness greatness.

This, along with the music, creates a zen-like moment. To this day, it still puts goosebumps on my skin.

1. Gatorade: If I Could Be Like Mike

There is no commercial jingle that gets stuck in your head better than Gatorade’s “Be Like Mike.” This was the first Gatorade commercial to feature Jordan.

The commercial premiered on TV on August 8, 1991, after the Chicago Bulls won their first NBA title, defeating the Los Angeles Lakers 4-1 in the 1991 NBA Finals. The commercial, with its jingle, made Jordan an even more likable person than he already was.

The commercial shows footage of Jordan’s famous switch-hands layup in Game 2 of the 1991 NBA Finals, along with him playing pickup basketball with a group of guys and children. Jordan helped grow Gatorade into the monster sports drink brand it is today, and it all began with the “Be Like Mike” commercial.

There you have it, the 10 best Michael Jordan commercials of all time. Did we place them correctly? Or do you believe the order is mixed up, or is there an MJ commercial we missed that we didn’t add?

Let us know. We’d love to hear your thoughts and opinions. We hope you all enjoyed this trip down memory lane and enjoyed reminiscing on the commercials that helped Michael Jordan become a household name.

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