Was that ‘Calvin’ or ‘Johnson?’
In the latest athletes with multiple identities commercial, Detroit Lions wideout Calvin Johnson gets help fending off the paparazzi from hip-hop mogul Diddy. The idea is that Diddy, or ‘Johnson’ can help Calvin just focus on football.
The Nike ad is among several in the athletes-in-disguise genre that has emerged and proven quite successful in showing another side to some of sports greatest talents.
Deion Sanders donned an afro for NFL Network’s ‘Leon Sandcastle’ campaign that debuted during the Super Bowl. Pepsi Max transformed Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving into the gray-bearded, trash-talking ‘Uncle Drew.’ Sandcastle eyed a return to NFL glory while Uncle Drew just wanted to teach the younger generation to respect their elders on the court.
Some other commercials in the same vein popped up in the 1990s featuring a more refined Charles Barkley pitching Right Guard deodorant and a miniature Anfernee ‘Penny’ Hardaway puppet known as ‘Lil Penny.’
Something about the ads just makes sense. EA Sports borrow from that same concept in their latest commercials for Madden 25. The ads take a trip down memory lane with NFL superstars such as Arian Foster, Marshawn Lynch, Russell Wilson and Colin Kaepernick.
After all, we can tell it’s them in the commercials – but it’s still funny.
Follow theGrio.com’s Sports Editor Todd Johnson on Twitter @rantoddj