“Anything you can do I can do better!”

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 5^th 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