With the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame recently inducting former Chicago Bulls great Scottie Pippen into their hallowed halls of greatness, what better time to give one of the NBA’s Top 50 Players of All Time his very own multi-part, weekly Player Rewind Series. Scottie was the antithesis of the 5 tool player with supreme abilities to handle the rock, score when needed, or play lock-down defense on virtually any player on the floor. Although he will forever be labeled a “sidekick” to the great Michael Jordan in their magnificent run in winning 6 NBA Titles, Scottie was undoubtedly a great man on and off the court from his humble beginnings in Hamburg, Arkansas to Olympic Gold Medalist, and eventually as a standard of greatness that many players of today’s game continue to strive for. Hopefully this series will serve to educate the youngsters about one of the greatest defensive players ever, while at the same time helping to reminisce on just how spectacular a player the man know as “Pip” really was.
Part 5 – The Commercials
The age old issue remains of whether playing alongside the G.O.A.T – Michael Jordan actually helped or hurt Scottie Pippen’s career. Even though it was doubtful that Pippen would have won 6 World Titles, one area that definitely helped being paired professionally with perhaps the most marketable NBA player of all-time in Jordan was the relm of commercials and endorsements. While we’ve already covered some of the many shoes Pippen sported in Part 4, let’s take a look at some of his more memorable commercials and endorsements he started to accumulate towards the middle and latter parts of his career.
One of the first commercials to feature Pippen, along with good friend and fellow Hall of Famer Charles Barkley, circa 1992, was this cheesy ad for Coca-Cola where Barkley and Pippen play a game of one-on-one. I remember it mostly for Pippen’s amazing accuracy when shooting a quarter right into the vending machine coin slot and it then spitting out 2 bottles of Coke (that and Barkley being in great shape).
Also in ‘92, Pippen started to appear in some pretty horrible sneaker ads like this one for the Nike Air Flight II’s. It was a spoof on the old black-and-white Twilight Zone television show, where Scottie continuously dunks over nerdy white guys in glasses titled “Time Warp.”
In 1997, Scottie teamed with Grant Hill, then of the Detroit Pistons to make this adorable McDonald’s commercial with children, to hock their famous Chicken McNuggets (which were only $2.99 for a 20 piece):
Of course, like all big time athletes, Scottie eventually got his very own chance to tell the world that “Anything less would be uncivilized” for this Right Guard ad in ‘98.
But my favorite has to be this spot where Pippen teamed up with Hakeem Olajuwon for a VISA Gold Card ad where the Dream Team was in Spain for the ‘92 Olympics. After Olajuwon offers to “treat” all other competing teams for lunch, Scottie shows some comic relief by informing the Dream they were only supposed to “meet” for lunch. Pippen’s expression makes the whole video watch-able.
Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania. Allen also provides content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.
