Comments on: Hey, MJ, How Much Do You Care That Corporate Branding Is Ruining Sports? ‘Oh, About This Much’

By: Mike

Mike — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 06:18:36 +0000

Bryan Redemske said:

Ryan said:

There apparently is alot of Bobcats gear with the Jumpman on it. I’m not sure how they get by with it though.

Nike can make all the Bobcats gear they want to, it just won’t be “official” NBA product, since Adidas is inked as the sole “official” manufacturer of NBA goods… My question: why doesn’t Jordan just wear one of the hundreds of Nike practice jerseys that have to be swarming the market? It’s obvious that he just wore the jerseys because they were on-hand, then when the camera men came he covered up the logo to avoid any Nike spurn

It’s kind of funny, though. The dude’s in his mid-40s, has made a shit ton of money for Nike and himself, literally has to answer to nobody on the basketball court … and he’s worried about the little Adidas logo? I mean, I see why he did it — the Nike affiliation — but come on. I think Mike gets a free pass on that one. Unless, of course, his red blood cells are shaped like Swooshes. Then it makes perfect sense.

Okay, can someone tell me where I can actually buy some Jordan Brand Bobcats gear which there is apparently alot of?

By: The Anti-Advertising Agency » Our Brands, Ourselves

The Anti-Advertising Agency » Our Brands, Ourselves — Sun, 23 Dec 2007 15:52:05 +0000

[...] Two Sundays ago, Bryan posted this photo and complained about all the ACC logos visible therein. This led to a lengthy back-and-forth in the comments section about logo creep — mostly about swooshes and other maker’s marks, not about conference logos. The discussion, which I did not take part in (I was at a bar watching football and caught up on the comments later), featured several arguments and analogies that I hear again and again regarding logo creep — arguments that are, frankly, way off-base. Some similar arguments came up yesterday regarding Michael Jordan’s taped-over Adidas logo. [...]

By: Peter

Peter — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 04:10:43 +0000

It's amazing how corporate sponsorship slowly gets into everything to do with sports. Even in the CFL we have stadiums named after companies . Thank goodness Ivor Wynne has retained it's historical designation, although when the new stadium is built I imagine we will end up with Ivor Wynne Field at Tim Horton's Park or something like that. I noticed that NBA Replicas carry the Adidas logo when I was out shopping today. Like I really need to know that my CB4 jersey comes from the three stripes. One other thing, on my old CCM Vancouver replica the logo is on the back of the neck, so if I was a true Canadian hockey player complete with the hair no one would ever see it!

By: Paul Lukas

Paul Lukas — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 14:34:08 +0000

derek said:

Paul- not to sound like an ass but you rant on about how corporate advertising is getting out of hand in sports and life yet you have have adds all over your site. dont you think thats a little hypocritical?

No, that’a an apples/oranges comparison. Advertising on a web site is perfectly legitimate and appropriate — that’s how publications stay in business (esp. ones that give away their content for free, like this one). Advertising on a uniform is, in my opinion, INappropriate, because the uniform should stand for the brand of the team, not for any other brand.

See today’s post for more thoughts on this topic.

By: Colten

Colten — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 14:28:36 +0000

I didn’t mean that they were unique to Miami only, but that is was a new concept that no one had tried before. While it failed miserably, I can look back years down the road and know that I have a jersey that people don’t run across every day. By the way, you said four teams wore the design. I saw Miami, Florida, and VT. Who was the fourth?

By: derek

derek — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 13:54:25 +0000

Paul- not to sound like an ass but you rant on about how corporate advertising is getting out of hand in sports and life yet you have have adds all over your site. dont you think thats a little hypocritical?

By: Paul Lukas

Paul Lukas — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 13:17:53 +0000

Colten said:

I have one of those Miami jerseys with left sleeve all orange. I know most people on this site disapprove, but I thought they were unique, even though I got it off the clearance rack for 40 buck. I almost got the Marcus Vick VT with the orange sleeve, but they didn’t have my size. They also had a Gators jersey with the sleeve.

How could the Miami one be “unique” when, as your own comment points out, several other schools wore the same concept? That was the biggest problem with the orange-sleeve jerseys: The four schools that wore them effectively become a new team — Team Nike.

By: Dave in VA

Dave in VA — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 13:11:44 +0000

Beautiful game in Boston. Two great teams, throwback uniforms, all on that parque floor. Beautiful
The only inconsistency in that game is that (I believe) the Celtics wore green shoes back in the day, not white. Other than that, very nice.

By: Colten

Colten — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 10:47:50 +0000

I have one of those Miami jerseys with left sleeve all orange. I know most people on this site disapprove, but I thought they were unique, even though I got it off the clearance rack for 40 buck. I almost got the Marcus Vick VT with the orange sleeve, but they didn’t have my size. They also had a Gators jersey with the sleeve.

By: Bryan Redemske

Bryan Redemske — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 06:23:35 +0000

Ryan said:

There apparently is alot of Bobcats gear with the Jumpman on it. I’m not sure how they get by with it though.

Nike can make all the Bobcats gear they want to, it just won’t be “official” NBA product, since Adidas is inked as the sole “official” manufacturer of NBA goods… My question: why doesn’t Jordan just wear one of the hundreds of Nike practice jerseys that have to be swarming the market? It’s obvious that he just wore the jerseys because they were on-hand, then when the camera men came he covered up the logo to avoid any Nike spurn

It’s kind of funny, though. The dude’s in his mid-40s, has made a shit ton of money for Nike and himself, literally has to answer to nobody on the basketball court … and he’s worried about the little Adidas logo? I mean, I see why he did it — the Nike affiliation — but come on. I think Mike gets a free pass on that one. Unless, of course, his red blood cells are shaped like Swooshes. Then it makes perfect sense.