Vintage Gear: Michael Jordan “Measure Up” Chicagoland Chevrolet Poster

Though we tend to think of Michael Jordan‘s endorsements in global terms, some of them were local.

For instance, long before Jordan and Larry Bird were challenging each other to impossible shots in the “Nothing But Net” McDonald’s commercial for Super Bowl XXVII, he was doing TV spots, public service announcements and print ads for Chicagoland McDonald’s restaurants. Similarly, Jordan starred in quite a few commercials for Chicagoland Chevrolet dealers, and was given free Chevy Blazers and Corvettes to drive as an extension of the partnership. (Remember him driving a burgundy Vette to and from media-swarmed Bulls practices in the days before he announced his return in March 1995?)

Now, if you were part of the Chicago area Chevy dealer network and you had Michael Jordan, the most dynamic athlete in the world at the prime of his notoriety, in your city, you’d rightfully wring every bit of publicity possible from that setup. Turns out part of that wringing produced this life-size poster of Jordan that you could measure your height against, which is the subject of our Vintage Gear today.

Or that kids could measure their height against, which is probably the demo for which this poster was intended judging by the strangely tepid exhortation printed under the “10-year-old Michael Jordan” snapshot. Even so, this poster is a gem because it was simply one of those little promotional outreaches meant to circulate only within the Chicago metro and suburban sprawl, instead of being aimed at global consumption as so many of Jordan’s endorsements have been.

Only Jesus knows how many extra Chevys were moved off dealer lots because of Michael Jordan, but the partnership lasted the better part of 10 years throughout the 1980s and early ’90s. Something got sold.

Check out different angles of the poster here, as well as a couple of those Chevrolet commercials MJ filmed around 25 years ago. Then head over to ricksvintagestuff on eBay if you want to nab this rarity for your Jordan memorabilia collection.