Air Jordans, Marketing and Lost Minds
Follow
By DERON SNYDER
The scenes were reminiscent of the worst Black Friday incidents: Shoppers lining up for hours and breaking through doors. Folks suffering injuries from being trampled or punched. Police resorting to pepper spray to subdue unruly crowds.
Except this wasn’t Black Friday. It was an Air Jordans-release Friday, and it prompted an outbreak of madness, mayhem and melees across the country.
The Jordan XI Concords are replicas of the shoes Michael Jordan wore when he returned to the NBA in 1995 after his one-year hiatus as a minor-league baseball player. Retailing for $180 for men (lower prices for children and — yes — toddlers), the white shoes with the black patent leather surrounding the bottom revolutionized the sneaker industry.
But they’re still just sneakers, no matter how much status is misguidedly attached to them.
