“Hello sir, can you please tell me how your book is?”: When David Robinson and Shaquille O’Neal featured in NBA’s Reading is Fundamental advertisements promoting reading and book culture

The NBA cherishes its role in giving back to the community. One of its best and biggest initiatives was with Reading is Fundamental, involving an ad series with the likes of David Robinson and Shaquille O’Neal.

The Admiral, as David Robinson is affectionately called, is perhaps one of the classiest NBA players of all time. The Spurs legend has taken a lead role in promoting education for underserved communities.

David Robinson runs a charter school with his wife Valerie in his beloved city of San Antonio. He is one of the athletes who inspired LeBron James to pursue their own community empowerment programmes.

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Shaquille O’Neal himself is a philanthropist through and through. Big Aristotle is such a giver, in fact, that he often overtips people and pays for others’ dinners at restaurants.

Shaq himself emphasizes the importance of getting educated whenever he gets the right platform to do so. The Lakers legend believes in empowering his sons and daughters to handle his generational wealth with the right education.

David Robinson and Shaquille O’Neal featured on powerful ads with Reading is Fundamental

Both of these all-time great centers and NBA 75th Anniversary Team members were also involved in an ad campaign. This was televised in the late 90s in order to promote reading spirit among children and the youth.

In the video below, The Admiral can be seen extolling the virtues of having a reading habit. He’s holding a fictional book titled David’s Tall Tales, and the animations show him engrossed in tall tales.

Shaq, meanwhile, has a page torn by his pet dog. The animations of the time and the entire motivation behind the ad make the sequence especially hilarious.

It is important to remember that curiosity is perhaps the most exhilarating experience in the world. People of all ages and walks of life should be encouraged to seek knowledge and pleasure through books, for they are the best medium for you to feel timeless and lost in its contents.

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