NIKE Air Jordan Advertising, Spike Lee & Little Richard, USA Today, 1991

Description

This is a NIKE Air Jordan, Mars Blackmon full page ad featuring Spike Lee as Mars Blackmon and Little Richard as the Genie in Aladdin's Lamp.
Mars Blackmon is a fictional character in the film “She’s Gotta Have It” (1986), played by the film’s writer/director, Spike Lee. In the film, he is a “Brooklyn-loving” fan of the New York Knicks, sports, and Air Jordans (the basketball shoes worn by Michael Jordan). This led to late 1980s and early 1990s appearances in Nike Air Jordan commercials alongside Jordan and Mars becoming well known for his use of the phrase, “It’s gotta be da shoes.” The ad campaign with Lee as Mars has been credited as a landmark in the evolution of sneakers into massively profitable items of fashion.
Ad has been folded to fit in an archive but is in good condition. There is a strong horizontal and vertical fold crease as indicated by the photo. All photos are meant to document condition.