Mars Blackmon

Mars Blackmon is a fictional character in the film She's Gotta Have It (1986), played by its writer/director, Spike Lee. In the film, he is a "Brooklyn-loving" fan of the New York Knicks, sports and Air Jordans (the basketball shoes worn by Michael Jordan). This led to late 1980s and early 1990s appearances in Nike Air Jordan commercials alongside Jordan and Mars becoming well known for his use of the phrase, "It's gotta be da shoes." The ad campaign with Lee as Mars has been credited as a landmark in the evolution of sneakers into massively profitable items of fashion.[1][2] As of January 2011, Nike had resumed using the character for its Air Jordan "Spiz'ike" line of shoes. In the TV remake he will be played by Anthony Ramos.[3]

In the April 30, 2010 episode of the genealogy television show Who Do You Think You Are? that focused on Spike Lee's search for his mother's ancestors, Spike said that he had called his grandmother to ask for a name for the character. His grandmother gave him the name "Mars". In the episode, Spike's research finds that Mars was the name of his great-great-grandfather (his grandmother's grandfather). In March 2015 a Capital One Quicksilver credit card television commercial features Samuel L. Jackson, Charles Barkley and Spike Lee. During the commercial's hotel check-in, Lee uses the pseudonym Mars Blackmon to register his room.

References

  1. ↑ Gary Warnett, "How One Moment In Pop Culture Changed Sneaker Culture Forever", Complex, September 12, 2016.
  2. ↑ Robert Goldman; Stephen Papson (1998). Nike Culture: The Sign of the Swoosh. SAGE Publications. pp. 48–49. ISBN 978-0-7619-6149-9.
  3. ↑ Andreeva, Nellie (28 September 2016). "'She's Gotta Have It': 'Hamilton's Anthony Ramos Cast In Spike Lee Netflix Series". Deadline.

See also

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