“You sure you want to get ‘Chosen 1’ tattooed on you?”: When Nike rolled out their iconic ‘de-aged Lebron James’ advertisement

LeBron James had himself de-aged in a Nike advertisement that looked to recreate the moment he decided to get ‘Chosen 1’ tattooed on him. 

LeBron James had a monumental amount of expectations placed on his shoulders the second it was clear he was going to make it to the NBA. Sports Illustrated put up an issue that featured a young James in merely his junior year of high school at St. Vincent-St. Mary that had the title ‘Chosen One’ written on it. 

This was one of the first nicknames that James ever received that stuck on for years to come. The nickname is one that put quite a bit of pressure on the future Cleveland Cavalier to do more than just well when he reaches the league.

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Well, as time would go on to show us, fast forward 19 years and LeBron James has outperformed anyone’s wildest expectations for what they thought he would be in the NBA. 

Of course, with ‘Chosen One’ being his first ever popularized moniker, getting it tattooed on himself seemed like a decent idea. In hindsight, he lived up to what he got tattooed on himself.  

Nike’s advert on LeBron James getting his ‘Chosen One’ tattoo. 

The 2018 ‘Chosen One’ advertisement that Nike decided to put out shows off LeBron James entering a tattoo parlor in a green St. Vincent-St. Mary hoodie. You’re not able to see his face as of yet but he hands a piece of paper to the tattoo artist after entering the store.

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The artist asks him, “You sure you want to get this?” to which LeBron simply says, “Yea,” After the artist agrees, the camera pans to a digitally de-aged LeBron looking at himself in the mirror and at the piece of paper that shows ‘Chosen 1’ written in the now, iconic font. 

The motivational advert ends with ‘Always believe’ being shown in white text against a black background, followed by the Nike swoosh.