Poster Review: '89 Nike Mars Blackmon Air Jordan III's

“Money, it’s gotta be the shoes”. There are a lot of excellent Spike Lee joints out there, but the Mars Blackmon Nike ads really put Spike Lee on the pop culture map. In 1989, Lee was a young film maker and Michael Jordan was unsuccessfully trying to take NBA titles away from Magic, Larry Legend and Isiah. Nike was also relatively early in its plans of global domination, but really got on its way thanks to creative advertising and perfecting the multinational corporate concept.

The “Mars Blackmon” marketing campaign was one of Nike’s best and most entertaining. “Mars” was a scrawny, dorky, MJ wannabe who thought he had discovered how Jordan could fly. Mars’ famous line was, “Money [Jordan], it’s gotta be the shoes”. Nike worked this campaign into posters, commercials, t-shirts and obviously sneakers which I still buy today. There's a sucker born everyday I guess.

The poster is one of the most sought after Jordan posters ever, but unfortunately it’s of course out of print today. That means that Jordan collectors have to pay quite a bit for a vintage copy. The poster can be found fairly regularly on eBay if you’re willing to shell-out some serious cash (here's an eBay auction of the Nike poster in “good” condition ending this week).

So what do you think? Is this Jordan’s best poster of all-time? I'll continue to bring you poster reviews of the best sports posters ever made including more Nike Jordan posters. If you have a favorite sports or pop culture poster, let me know and remember… "Enjoy Every Bounce of the Ball".

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