Critique Michael Jordan Critique

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.

Stemming away from Jordan personally, it also touches on how the expansion of Nike created issues with regard to race by way of cultural and value-based analysis of black culture and effect that the Air Jordan shoe had on its people. One example of which is shown from the black on black crime that ensued as a result of the marketing of the Air Jordan in the 1990s. Significance in the arena black business is also evident. Obvious significance is shown from the growth of the business of Michael Jordan himself. It shows how a single man can amass wealth starting one-dimensionally as a person with extraordinary athletic talent and transitioning into one who takes the reigns as the leader of his own division of a transnational corporation while still working to his own and his brand's marketability. It's also subtly important to show how the Nike product also spiked the dollar seen by inner city ‘mom and pop' athletic apparel stores, mostly black owned. Chapter 4 touches on the effect of the Air Jordan on inner cities, both good and bad, and even though there was crime and drug money involved with the sales of Air Jordans, it is still hard to ignore the increase of money that resulted as well. Lastly, LaFeber's book provides informational significance of the expansion of global capitalism in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. It not only shows how Nike became the worlds largest company in sports apparel but also how the Chicago Bulls organization increased

In 1999, when this essay was published, something as simple as a cellphone was a revolution to the American people. Conversations anywhere with no wires involved! Wow! Looking back now, American seemed pretty simple in 1999. This is the same for Michael Jordan – once upon a time, Jordan was JUST a basketball player. LaFeber’s essay illustrates for us the rise of the young Jordan from his middle-class family in racist North Carolina through his college years and eventually into the NBA where he became an international sports icon. LaFeber tells the story of how Jordan caught the eye of Nike CEO Phil Knight and goes on to explain how Knight transformed Jordan into the face of a multi-billion dollar international corporation. LaFeber also fills us in on race and sports issues surrounding Jordan and how that played a part in Nike’s growth. LaFeber shows us how race effected middle-class Michael Jordan at a young age and how he was able to overcome this and grow into the star he is today.

Michael Jordan was born on February 17, 1963 in Brooklyn, New York, and when he was still a toddler, his parents moved to Wilmington, North Carolina.

Michael Jordan had a passion for Basketball. It was not something he did to fill up his spare time; it was a goal that he knew would be his channel to influence the world. When we follow our passion, we would paint the world in very bright colors. It is important to know that our passion is our DNA, which would be the channel through which we make a mark in our world. Michael Jordan’s passion still speaks because he has influenced many generations of young people in the game of Basketball.

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

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

Unfortunately, the same factor that contributed to Nike’s exponential growth (low-cost labor and production) also contributed to hurting Nike’s public image as a leader in “athleticism, health and fitness, and innovative marketing and design” (Locke, 2002). Nike was criticized for unethical practices by their subcontractors, which included underpaid workers, poor working conditions, child labor, and abuse (Locke, 2002).

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.

Michael Jeffrey Jordan is known by many people as the best basketball player ever to play the game. Jordan played for the Chicago Bulls, helping them obtained six championship titles in eight years. Now remembered for being the best and the most popular athlete in the sports world. He had a great influence on the people. "Jordan was just another great legend" (Stein 2). Being a role model on and off the court Jordan showed his abilities to play the game and his kindness towards other people, especially those who admired him the most. "His widespread appeal to fans has helped keep basketball one of the world's most popular spectator sports" (Stein 1).

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

Few can question Nike 's financial hegemony. But nearly $ 7 billion in revenues clearly begs the question, what sells these shoes? It is my contention that the power of Nike to sell comes from deep longings of cultural integration and sport individual achievement. These seemingly paradoxical desires collide in the hearts and minds of consumers and produce the unyielding zeal for Nike shoes and clothing. Unfortunate effects of this heat can be found in the killings of Nike apparel in 1991, and the profusion of Nike collectors and websites designed around the company 's products. (See list of web pages in the Works Cited page) Nike appeals to these disparate elements of Americans ' personalities through an advertising philosophy that is at

Michael Jordan is known to be one the greatest basketball players of all time. Jordan’s love, passion, and work ethic as an individual and as teammate has lead him to the top. Even if you don’t like the Chicago Bulls or Jordan, just with all the achievements he’s got on and off the court, the man deserves respect. Michael Jordan’s famous sneaker brand “Air Jordan” is one of the most popular brands of all time. With his commercial “Work Before Glory”, a sneaker advertisement that tells a story of the legacy he left and it also shows how it’s not all about what they are advertising.