Gatorade’s 23 Year Old “Be Like Mike” Commercial Goes Viral

Gatorade has a new hit commercial on their hands and they didn’t have to film one second in 2015 to make it happen.

According to Advertising Age, Gatorade’s “Be Like Mike” commercial, the classic 1992 TV spot starring Michael Jordan, has gone viral this month, landing at number two on the publication’s “Viral Video Chart” with 4,858,097 Internet views.

Gatorade re-released the commercial in February to celebrate 50 years of the brand’s history and 23 years — a nod to Jordan’s jersey number — since it first aired. As an extension of the campaign, Gatorade also issued new “Like Mike” commercials inspired by the original.

Today’s measurable public response to “Be Like Mike” indicates the sharp contrast between the pop culture pulse in 1992 versus 2015. Then, in a pre-Internet, pre-social media world, positive reception was measured in product sales and how robust or lackluster word-of-mouth proved to be. Now, native page counts register views in real time.

Had the Internet as we know it today existed in 1992, would Jordan, seeking his second NBA championship and blossoming into Nike-assisted international fame, have become an even brighter megastar than he did?

Watch the original Gatorade “Be Like Mike” spot below.