What are the odds of seeing Shaquille O Neal‘s smiling face when someone steps into a store in America, especially in Los Angeles? If you ask Charles Barkley, the chances are very high. In fact, the former Suns superstar is sick of seeing Shaq’s face plastered everywhere. There’s no escaping him even when he wants to buy something as simple as a calendar.
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Recently, the Chuckster and Ernie Johnson rolled out the season opener of ‘NBA on TNT’s podcast ‘The Steam Room’. During the call-in section of the show, a caller from Toronto asked Barkley, “What is Shaq’s most ridiculous endorsement?”
This question prompted a brief chuckle from Barkley. Chuck has always maintained that the big man is in way too many commercials than necessary. He and Johnson started to wonder about the most absurd Shaq endorsements out there. Both admitted that he has a “lot of them”.
Then Barkley asked EJ if he had received “his Epson”, a query triggered by the fact that Shaquille O’Neal and Epson are collaborators. Soon afterwards, he remembered how he went down to the office supply store in Staples one morning to buy the New Year’s Calendar. However, he was welcomed to the store with dozens of Shaq’s pictures plastered on the walls.
“I found [the calendar]. But they got a million pictures of his [Shaq’s] fat a** all over the store,” Barkley complained. EJ then commented that “there is no escaping Shaq.” “Oh my God. They had to have at least 10 pictures of his fat a** all over the store. I complained, I said, ‘Why you got this fat a** dude[Shaq] all over the place in here,’” added Barkley.
The presence of his ‘Inside The NBA’ colleague irked Barkley. There’s no denying that Shaq is the King of marketing in the NBA community. The range of products endorsed by Shaq is truly incredible. However, seeing the big man everywhere he goes and even on TV screens all the time really annoys Chuck. He has had no qualms letting the big man know about the same in the past.
Shaq’s diversity of endorsements has also landed him in trouble in the past. After the crypto market crashed, the big man was implicated in a class action lawsuit filed by FTX investors, a crypto trading platform that Shaq had previously endorsed.
Charles Barkley consistently takes shots at Shaquille O Neal’s endorsements
While Chuck has been himself involved in a ton of endorsements, he considers Shaq more unhinged when it comes to commercials. In 2019, he went to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where the host asked him “Who is more shameless in endorsements, you or Shaq?”
“Oh! Shaq got no shame. Zero! Every time I look at TV, there’s no doubt that he’d do tampons any day. It’s just a matter of time,” quipped the hilarious Inside the NBA analyst
The former 76ers Forward also believes that there is a huge gap between what Shaq endorses and what he uses. In 2021, Sir Charles was asked by Conan O’Brien if he believes that Shaq ever uses any product that he is endorsing, quoting the examples of General Insurance and the pain-relieving cream Icy Hot.
“I guarantee you he has not used any product that he endorses,” claimed Barkley twice in a row.
While Barkley pointed out Shaq’s methods, he knows this is how business works. He admitted during his 2019 Stephen Colbert appearance that he is not a fan of most food products that he endorses. However, his gripe is that he is exhausted with seeing Shaq everywhere. You can’t escape his footprints in the market, such has been his influence upon advertising.
