$82 Billion Nike Under Fire as Michael Jordan Brand Faces Backlash Over 10YO Accusation

Currently, Nike is already under pressure with the tariffs issue. Not to forget, the fans already aired the issue of disliking the 40th year celebration of the Michael Jordan Brand. The ‘unbanable’ campaign of AJ1 only led to drops in 23 stores, and that too in limited quantities. Similarly, a 4-decade controversy once again comes to light, as the issue remains at large. So, fans straight away demand fair compensation to put an end to the Swoosh brand’s trouble.

The controversy surrounds the creation of the iconic Jordan brand logo. Last year, a 22-minute documentary dubbed JUMPMAN premiered on June 7 at the Tribeca Film Festival. This unraveled the original controversy behind the creation of the Jordan pose. “I didn’t take the picture. I made the picture,” Dutch photographer Jacobus ‘Co’ Rentmeester said in the documentary, as per sneaker enthusiast Nick DePaula’s newsletter. Now Complex has shared the more details with us.

“He shot these photos of Michael Jordan on assignment in 1984 before the Jumpman logo was ever a thing. He told Jordan to jump like a ballet dancer, basically inventing this pose where he has his arms stretched out and his legs kicked out. And in the photo, Jordan’s actually wearing New Balance and Adidas socks.” In 1984, Rentmeester traveled to North Carolina as a freelancer for LIFE Magazine. His task was to feature the player, who was the newest addition to the Bulls team.

The Dutchman asked MJ to perform a “ballet leap,” where MJ had to palm the ball in his left hand and jump towards the ring, splitting his legs. Very similar to the current Jumpman logo, right? That’s what Rentmeester felt, once he saw the logo all over Chicago, after the Nike deal. The Athleisure wear company paid the photographer to use transparencies, copies of the images for internal use. Months after that, the logo was created.

Naturally, the photographer called foul play and threatened the company with legal action. “Nike paid him $15,000 for a limited license of the photo for a few years and promised him more work, but the work never came. Co is 88 years old now and still fighting for his credit, although it may never come.” The Complex video leaves us with a question. So now that you know the real history of the Jumpman logo, do you think Nike ripped him off?

The fans in the comment section unanimously agreed and shared their sympathy with the photographer. Plus, some of them issued warnings to the company over malpractice.

Michael Jordan and Nike do not have fans on their side

“It’s amazing how companies do everything to not pay to the people that deserves it.” A frustrated netizen added after learning from the video what had transpired. In order to achieve justice, with actual pictures from that 1984 photoshoot in Chapel Hill and re-enactments, JUMPMAN is the Dutch photographer’s way to have his story heard by the public.

Another issue in the video is that Nike promised to hire Rentmeester for future advertising shoots, but that didn’t happen. A fan wrote, “They could do right by him with a compromise and give him a colorway collab.” As per the law, Nike is not entitled to give anything. That’s why a comment read, “Our IP laws are wild 🤷🏻‍♂️.”

Rentmeester even went to court in 2014, but his case was dismissed in 2018. The court said that the positioning of Jordan’s right hand was different, and the angle of his body was turned as well. A judge in Oregon dismissed the case, saying that the two photos, the two images, the two poses were not similar enough. So, the case never went through a jury. Even though legally the photographer lost, fans want Nike to do better. “Nike a billion dollar industry give the man what he seeks before he leaves this earth 💯💯.”

However, instead of giving him credit, Nike gave him $15,000 to use the photo for 2 years. Considering that we still see that same logo, which is affiliated with the Jordan brand, it’s evident that Nike has used it for a lot more than just two years. “Wow 😮!! They done made billions off that pic and all he’s gotten is 15k !!!!!! 🤷🏽‍♂️🧐😤🤦🏽‍♂️.” Will it result in any victory for photographer Jacobus ‘Co’ Rentmeester? After all, he went to lengths to bring the proof about his work.