When Charles Barkley faced backlash over a commercial with eye-opening message: “I’m paid to wreak havoc on the basketball court”
During his 16-year career in the NBA, Charles Barkley made headlines not only because of his play on the court, but because of antics off it.
Barkley was fairly often mired in controversy, from throwing a man out the window to accidentally spitting on an eight-year-old girl. While some of Barkley's transgressions were downright hysterical, others had a more grave tone.
One such incident came in 1993, when the Auburn product was featured in a Nike commercial. Barkley's statement in the commercial caused upheaval.
“I am not a role model. I’m not paid to be a role model. I’m paid to wreak havoc on the basketball court. Parents should be role models. Just because I dunk a basketball doesn’t mean I should raise your kids.”
The commercial was apparently released as part of Nike's bid to recapture the teenage male market:
“Three was a lot of pressure,” former Nike advertising director Scott Bedbury said. “We needed to get the edge back with teenage males. We gave that brief to Wieden + Kennedy, and then we held onto our seats.” (via) Yahoo Sports
In fact, it wasn't Nike officials who had come to Charles Barkley with the idea. In his 2002 memoir, Barkley wrote:
"Nike didn’t come to me with the idea to do a commercial about role models — I went to Nike with that idea."
Reaction to Charles Barkley's advertisement
Barkley's advertisement started a discourse on whether or not athletes were fit role models who could serve as symbols of moral integrity. The debate naturally created two sides, one who argued against Barkley's claims, and one which argued for.
One of Barkley's notable detractors was fellow NBA player Karl Malone, who, in an essay in Sports Illustrated, stated that while Barkley can deny being a role model, it is not his decision to make.
Barkley naturally received a severe lashback, which he detailed much later in an interview:
"It comes up all time when the term role model comes up. It started a national debate. When I went to Nike with the commercial, they were like 'This is going to be huge.' I said 'That's why I want to do this commerical.'"
"I'm the only guy in the world who got hate mail for telling kids to listen to their parents."
While things did heat up at the time, Barkley later parodied his performance while appearing as a guest on SNL.
Charles Barkley's commercial is widely recognized as one of Nike's most controversial and famous ads. Business Insider put the advertisement on its list of "25 ads that shaped Nike."