For those of us who've spent too many hours digging through YouTube trying to find good-looking versions of classic ads, this is quite a treat: As part of its 50th birthday celebrations, Gatorade has digitally remastered its classic "Be Like Mike" commercial with Michael Jordan after almost a quarter century.
And it really looks good. The old Bayer Bess Vanderwarker spot is completely cleaned up, so you can enjoy seeing Mike play cute pickup games with kids and laugh ridiculously with his actor-teammates like it's 1992 all over again. (Except for that hashtag at the end!)
Gatorade is doing a whole bunch of "Be Like Mike" stuff around the NBA All-Star weekend, including a "live event experience" in New York featuring Dominique Wilkins and Horace Grant, who will "help visitors do their best impressions of Jordan by 'Shooting like Mike,' 'Dunking like Mike' and 'Striking iconic poses like Mike.' "
The sports drink will also be selling special bottles of Citrus Cooler (Mike's favorite) with a retro label starting at the end of March.
In fact, the only thing missing from return of "Be Like Mike," it seems, is present-day Mike.
The remastered ad is cool, though—almost as good as the 1979 Pabst Blue Ribbon spot with Patrick Swayze that was likewise cleaned up a few years ago. Can we do this with all the great spots from the '70s, '80s and '90s, please?