Apart from turning up in their best form match in match out, NBA players carry the added responsibility of being role models who could inspire kids to work towards their dreams. Charles Barkley questioned this notion, believing it was creating its own set of problems. The 11-time NBA All-Star, a champion in his own right, and a role model no doubt, created quite a stir back in the day when he proclaimed, “I am not a role model.”
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The 1993 Nike commercial in which Barkley expressed his out-of-the-box view, may not have made it in the first place. The bosses at the sneakers giant worried if it would dent the values that their brand stood for.
During an appearance on Throwbacks pod, host Jerry Ferrara asked Barkley if he was the one who came up with the idea for the commercial or if Nike had prepared the script.
Barkley revealed the idea was his and he had firm reasons for pitching it. Nike, though, received it skeptically as it went against the norm. It took considerable effort from Barkley to push his proposal through.
Barkley told Ferrara,
“I said I got this idea, I want to make a commercial. They’re like, ‘You fu**ing nuts’. And I said, ‘No, no,no’. You got to trust me on this. We’re gonna start a great debate. I know athletes are role models but I want to start a better conversation. They’re like, ‘This is a bad idea’. Took me a while time to into it and finally we did it and it took over the country for a while.”
The reaction was understandable. It was the era when superstars like Michael Jordan were portrayed as role models who would motivate kids to work toward their dreams, avoiding the pitfalls and dangers of teenage gangs and street life.
Barkley believed the role-model idea also had its shortcomings.
Barkley wanted to open up a vital conversation
Charles Barkley was perturbed by the segregated nature of the model of education in US schools. The avenues schools were providing for the kids differed with each racial group. He was taken aback that African American students were only encouraged to pursue a career in sports or entertainment.
Clearly, only the best advance in professional sport, a handful at the most. So, Barkley wanted African-American students to dream about not just becoming NBA or NFL players but doctors, teachers, lawyers, and other professionals. During his interaction with Ferrara, Barkley added,
“When I go to white schools, these kids wanna be doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, fireman, policeman. When I was going to these black schools, they’re like, ‘I want to play in the NFL, I want to play in the NBA’… Our black kids are brainwashed to think they gonna be athletes or entertainers… They got a better chance a doctor and a lawyer, and a engineer than they do playing in the NBA.”
Barkley was 100 percent right. His view was based on hard facts. Just 0.1% of high-school prospects make it as pros in the NBA or the NFL.
Nike saw merit in his idea as well and the commercial was released to a positive response. More importantly, it shed a spotlight on the need for African American youngsters to identify and pursue their dreams and not just try and emulate sports starts.
