In the 80s, when we were heading to a court basketball to throw some balls and imitate our heroes, it was common to see children wearing sneakers from brands that were not known worldwide, any piece of fabric with a low sole was fine. But, as the decade progressed, so did children’s footwear: first Converse shoes, then other brands (Adidas, Reebok) until, finally, already in the 90s, Nike pairs multiplied.
What ends in the brief previous paragraph is a parable of capitalism: the more the NBA sells game rights and recaps from around the world, the more brands are committed to sponsoring players. First, they did it in pairs: Converse’s ads, for example, combined two and three players at the same time (Magic and Bird, if memory serves); over time, other brands decided to imitate Converse. Until Nike came up with the idea of taking just one player, Michael Jordan, who they hoped would become the greatest ever, and advertising the line they created for him as if he wasn’t a team sport player. but a tennis player or a golfer. – an individuality rather than a part of a whole.
Capitalism makes its calculations out of millions: its market is all human beings on top of the Earth, subdivided into categories: how many humans are there who are interested in the NBA? Of those, how many will be Jordan fans? How much of a Jordan fan do you have to be to drop x on a sneaker? Can the undecided become fans (ie buyers)? There, yes? So take another 10 million for the marketing department and see if you can convince them.
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Source: Observadora
