A Critical Analysis of Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism

I have devised a presentation in order to critically analyse sports as spectacle, my research question consists of how Michael Jordan’s elite NBA career elevated media speculation. By critiquing theorists such as Debore, Abercrombie & Longhurst and Tomlinson I can illustrate how spectacle is perceived in our mediated society.

Michael Jordan is a very famous personality and almost everybody knows him. Jordan goes beyond the basketball world because some people know him even without knowing a thing about basketball. Michael Jordan has a variety of products in market that many people like because of their texture, style, authenticity and models and because it is Michael Jordan. People sometimes also recognize the logo of the brand and people would be willing to pay a high quantity of money to get Michael Jordan’s products. Jordan is a role model for little kids to persuade them to become basketball players or at least practice the sport. Michael Jordan is important because he is one of the greatest players in the history of the NBA, his drive to succeed and to

In the novel, “Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism”, the author, Walter LaFerber compares the co-founder of Nike, Phil Knight, to former American magnates such as John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and various other industrialists in order to successfully label him as a modern day “Robber Baron”.

Jordan really targeted an audience of adults and teenagers who have a biased mindset, with the goal of having them rethink their morals about equality in the U.S. Nike was able to use Jordan as a spokesperson so that he can urge audience members to believe in what the company stands for, which is equality and build trust and in their customers to promote their business and products. This was also a source of ethos displayed. The Declaration of Independence is also used as a prime source of persuasion that make people question their humanity, due to the amble amount of inequality in the world. If equality does exist in the U.S, then there must be boundaries that are set. Nike tries to connect to that idea by including sports with the goal of building more credibility or trust, also known as ethos.

Thesis statement (central idea): Nike brand is a well-known household name because the companies founders were able to capitalize on a logo paired with celebrity sponsorship and representation.

There is often a chief product that keeps a business afloat even in the rough times. McDonalds has the Big Mac, Apple has the iPod, and Nike has Jordan. In the essay, LaFeber speaks about the types of business deals that fueled Jordan’s career. The new business strategies of the shoe company Nike, helped escalate Jordan to the level of global fame he is today. Nike was an American company which produced and sold a majority of their shoes in other countries. Here, LaFeber illustrates how the world interacted with itself, and ultimately how globalization took off. LaFeber identifies Jordan at the center of a new

Michael Jeffrey Jordan was his full name. MJ was his nickname, he was known as the man that changed the game of basketball forever and nobody knew that even when he was in high school that he would grow to be the best player to ever play the game. Michael was influenced by his older brother, his brother was much bigger and stronger than him, but Michael made it his goal that eventually one day that he would be better than him, Michael was cut by his high school coach twice, and wouldn’t make the team until his senior year, where he completely changed the game and was unrealistic the way he could dunk it and dribble, and as well shoot the ball. Michael attended the University Of North Carolina. That is when the nation took notice that he was

Specific Purpose: To inform the audience about Michael Jordan and the rising of him playing basketball.

My topic is about the full impact LeBron James has had on the NBA and society. He is known as a modern-athlete activist, he has never been shy to express his thoughts on social issues outside and inside of the NBA. LeBron James has played such a major role in the Black Lives Matter movement. For example, in the opening of the 2016 ESPYs, LeBron mentioned all the recent police shootings that have been occurring, and expresses his feelings on how he wants change. My topic will also talk about the impact he’s had on the economy, not only the impact inside of the NBA but thing’s he’s done outside of the league. Overall, I’ll explain the overall impact that he’s had on the world, and how much of an influence he has been in the African American community.

But, omnisciently speaking, both entities faced severe scrutiny and criticism from United States and international citizens for their capitalistic business practices. Furthermore, a vast number of American citizens, mainly teenagers, had been killed over Nike Air Jordan sneakers because of their high price tag, while the cost to produce the shoes were rapidly declining due to Nike’s unprecedented offshore production. Bill Bigelow’s, The Human Lives behind the Labels: The Global Sweatshop, Nike, and the Race to the Bottom accurately portrays this capitalistic mentality when mentioning, “children as young as 6 are ‘sold and resold like furniture, branded, beaten, blinded as punishment for wanting to go home...’ For pennies an hour, these children work in dank sheds, stitching soccer balls with the familiar Nike swoosh and logos of other transnational athletic equipment companies” (Bigelow, 113). What is most disturbing to fans of Nike and Jordan were their comments and proposed remedies on the matter. Essentially, Jordan did nothing to curtail the number of kids being killed for his shoes and, as far as his affiliation with capitalistic Nike, Jordan did not want to cause any kind of rift between himself and the corporation that made him millions

King of the Court: Bill Russell and the Basketball Revolution brings a fresh perspective to the life of one of the National Basketball Association’s most iconic and prominent players of all time. Bill Russell is known for his tenacious and innovative style of basketball play, but rarely does his background get much attention. Aram Goudsouzian takes a detailed look into the life of 6’10” Bill Russell, making note of not only his authority on the court, but also his background, culture, and attitude off the court.

December 21, 1891- The birth of basketball. It has been changed from simply shooting a soccer ball into a peach basket to dunking a seven pound, leather ball into an iron rim. In the early years of the game, basketball was not as popular as other sports. In the 1985 NBA draft all this would change with the emergence of a 6'6" basketball phenomenon from Wilmington, North Carolina. Although going third in the draft, he recreated the game and is known as the best player to ever touch a basketball; he is Michael Jordan.

The use of specific athletes in marketing campaigns really began to show promise when athletes like Jordan began wearing their own brands of shoes. The idea to consumers or fans of the NBA that they could wear the same shoes as Michael Jordan, and somehow play like him was an easy sell by Nike. Today it is now common for marketable athletes in almost all sports to wear their own style of shoes, spikes, or skates. An interesting point to make is that through Nike Michael Jordan eventually launched his own clothing line called Jumpman23 that makes everything from socks and underwear to winter coats. Even though Jordan has been retired since 1999 the Jumpman23 company has continued to release a new shoe every single year that are simply called “Jordan 24”, an increasing corresponding number to the number of years the shoes have been produced. The new Jordan shoes still retails at over $150 a pair even though Mike hasn’t stepped on the court in 11 years! After retirement and becoming the CEO of the Jumpman brand Michael Jordan has been able to court other famous athletes from a variety of sports to wear his brand. A few examples of the athletes include Derek Jeter (baseball), Dwayne Wade (basketball), Jason Taylor (football), and April Holmes (track and field). The wide range of athletes in all different sports who now market a brand for arguably the greatest athlete of all time truly shows the money, power, and influence an athlete can experience

Phil Knight and his track-and-field coach Bill Bowerman found one of the world’s well-known sports brand, Nike in 1964. With the beginning of Nike first “office” being the laundry room of Knight’s family home it has now become the biggest sports and fitness company in the world with international recognition. The vision statement of Nike as an organization was to think ahead in the long term and not to simply focus and be content with the present as described by Tom Clarke, chief executive of Nike.

During the late 80s and early 90s Nike was faced with a series of labor strike back at home due to unethical labor practices by its independent countries in third world countries. It is well known for Nike to outsource almost all its production from third world countries at cheap prices and sell them in U.S. market at an abnormal profit. The company began outsourcing its products from Japan where labor was competent and wages were very low. The living standards were raised which prompted Nike to outsource its products from Thailand, Pakistan and Indonesia since wages in these countries were extremely low and labor for these products were competent due to rapid development of the Japanese economy. The outsourcing of footwear products from Asian countries enables Nike to earn high profits and enjoy a competitive advantage over its rivals in the footwear industry. The company invests the high profits realized in marketing its products through celebrities. For instance, Michael Jordan was used to advertise the positive image of Nike Company (Lipschutz and James, pp. 87-96).