There are very few commercials
that I remember from the earlier years of my life. There are of course the ole
Smokey the Bear commercials talking about wildfire prevention and the classic
Super Bowl commercials with the Budweiser Clydesdales; but none stand out in my
memory like the Gatorade commercial featuring two of the greatest athletes of
all time. Mia Hamm and Michael Jordan are undoubtedly the greatest athletes in
their respective sports. Jordan was just
coming off of his 5th NBA Championship and Hamm had just helped lead
the US Women’s soccer team to an Olympic Gold Medal when the commercial first
aired in 1997.
I
was only seven years old when it first aired but I remember loving the catchy “I
can do anything you can do only better” song that played with it. At the time I
was involved in practically every little league sport offered, many of which
were co-ed. Being a very competitive little boy, I hated to lose, especially to
the girls. I’ll admit I was the boy that wouldn’t pass the ball to a girl
because I didn’t think she’d be able to get the job done. This commercial
showed Mia Hamm beating Michael Jordan in multiple sports. Seeing the greatest
basketball player of all time lose to a girl really hit me. It made me realize
that they can do everything we as boys or men can do…maybe even better.
The
commercial not only showed an equal playing field between men and women but it
also promoted the most popular sports drink. I was one of the many children
that believed they would be the next superstar athlete. Multiple times
throughout the commercial they showed Hamm and Jordan drinking Gatorade and
then added the line “is it in you?” right at the end. The question that they
ask us made me believe that Gatorade was the only difference between me and these
two athletes. I had to get my hands on it.
Here is a link to the ad that I am sure many of you remember: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV12k6k9W4Q
