Disney Forced Michael Jordan's 'Be Like Mike' Gatorade Commercial To Change One Thing
Gatorade's "Be Like Mike" commercial from the early '90s is one of the more memorable ads that feature basketball superstar Michael Jordan. However, without the song that ties it all together, the whole minute-long ad would be just a collection of clips where Jordan plies his trade and goofs around with aspiring basketball players, occasionally cracking a smile at the camera and posing with a Gatorade bottle. The catchy tune that features male and female vocalists and a children's choir — all singing about their wish to be more like Jordan, aka Mike — creates the need while the visuals provide a solution: The song establishes that you, the viewer, also need to be more like Mike, and the rest of the ad strongly suggests that the way to achieve this is by drinking Gatorade.
Interestingly, the commercial might have turned out quite differently if it wasn't for one surprise player — Disney. In May 2020, the ad's creator, Bernie Pitzel, told the Associated Press that he originally intended to use a version of King Louie's (Louis Prima) "I wanna be like you" from the Disney animated classic "The Jungle Book" in the project. However, Pitzel said that Disney asked too much money for the song, which forced him to pen an original work for the ad.
A fast-paced production led to success
With the visual side of things already ready but without a song to use, Pitzel ended up personally writing the lyrics and the melody before outsourcing the production to ad jingle makers Steve Schafer and Ira Antelis. The resulting song works undeniably well, and Pitzel was impressed from the very first moment it played. "I heard that instrumental opening that I'm like, 'Oh, my God. We got it,'" the ad executive said.
The "Be Like Mike" commercial was a big thing. Michael Jordan was Gatorade's first foray into the celebrity endorser business, and the 10-year contract they signed in 1991 netted the basketball star an average of $1.4 million every year. It's fascinating to know the creative process behind what's arguably the single best-known ad that came from this partnership — and to imagine how things might have gone if they'd been able to use "I Wanna Be Like You" instead.
Pitzel, for one, has an opinion about the subject. "As it turned out, it was way better that I wrote the song because that's what people remember," he said. "If we'd just done it with the 'Jungle Book' music, it would have been a cute little spot, but it never would have resonated like it did."