Episode 2: The best sneaker advertisement campaigns EVER: Charles Barkley (Nike Force)

I was a Barkley fan to a certain extent. As far as Power Forwards go, my favorite will always be Shawn Kemp, who I am sure at some point will be on this list of campaigns. However, when it came to footwear, Charles Barkley's line is one of Nike's greatest. For today's episode, here is one of his early commercials playing Godzilla one on one (is Godzilla channeling Hakeem or Horace Grant? lol) and destroying him as expected. Also pictured is a vintage pair of the Nike Alpha force II, which was an early shoe he wore. Interestingly enough, he was tabbed by Nike early on in his career to headline the breakaway Force line of sneakers (compared with Michael Jordan's flight line) along with Moses Malone. Another shoe that he wore was my personal favorite, the Nike Air Force Max B. This shoe also became famous for being worn by the Fab 5 at Michigan around the time of it's release. I've embedded a rare commercial for the shoe from around 1993. It took several years for Nike to give Charles his very own signature shoe as he was their main Force guy, but when it finally happened, it was a BIG deal. That will be the next episode. For now, lets watch Charles save (or destroy) Tokyo:


Barkley of Seville (Air force Max B)