CAN'T  BAN GREATNESS

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Air Jordan 1, and throughout the past four decades its presence has permeated throughout culture – sports, music, entertainment, design, and much more. Why? Because the AJ1 represents defiance; the NBA tried to ban it in 1985, but MJ and the Jordan Brand said otherwise.

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The problem?

 

Younger consumers aren’t familiar with the origin story of the Air Jordan 1.
 
So how do you remind a generation of the enormous impact one shoe can have on the world?

 

By showing them a world without it. 

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Jalen Hurts was fined by the NFL for wearing ‘unapproved colors’. Air Jordans were ‘banned’ from Nike.com. Jordan Brand’s instagram account disappeared. The shoes on Michael Jordan’s statue in Chicago were banned.  Lyrics mentioning Air Jordan were banned from Genius. Air Jordans were banned from NBA2K and on Jordan’s NASCAR the wrap was a ‘Banned’ theme. 

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And at the Grammy’s, Jordan dropped the full TV anthem to explain how that one act of defiance fueled the world of the AJ1 cultural impact and legacy.