"Wait, the Jordans ain’t on JORDAN?" - Bulls fans baffled over Michael Jordan's statue's shoes being banned ahead of Air Jordan 1s' 40th anniversary

The Chicago Bulls surprised fans on Monday by blacking out franchise legend Michael Jordan's iconic Air Jordan 1s on his United Center statue. The shoe model's 40th-anniversary marketing promotion paid homage to its controversial 1984 debut.

The stunt occurred ahead of Monday's home matchup against the Denver Nuggets, with Chicago sharing a photo of the statue with blacked-out shoes on X/Twitter. The organization also posted a panoramic clip of the sculpture captioned, "If it was just a shoe, why did they try to ban it?"

The tagline was featured around the statue as Bulls fans entered United Center. It references the NBA prohibiting Jordan from wearing Air Jordan 1s upon their 1984 inception for failing to adhere to its uniform standards. The league's policy at the time required players' shoes to be 51% white and match the rest of their teammates' footwear.

Nevertheless, Jordan continued sporting the black and red shoes, racking up a $5,000 fine per game. Nike covered the accumulating expenses, with the sneakers garnering their "Banned" nickname.

On February 25th, 1985, the NBA pushed back, issuing Nike a memo about the violation. However, rather than Jordan discontinuing donning Air Jordan 1s during games, the multibillion-dollar sportswear company created a marketing campaign surrounding the banned narrative.

In a series of advertisements, Nike censored the black and red shoes. It quipped that the league couldn't stop fans from wearing the banned sneakers, boosting their popularity.

40 years later, Chicago commemorated Jordan's rise to the top of the basketball shoe game. However, some fans were seemingly left confused by the promotional tactic.

"Wait, the Jordans ain't on JORDAN???????" @killuminati said.

"What is going on?" @Blast52Drummer wrote.

"What (are) you referring to? The black versions of the Air Jordan 1s??" @xLegion_DC said.

Meanwhile, others expressed frustration with their inability to get their hands on the latest Air Jordan 1 special editions and collaborations.

"Why is (the) Nike store banning it now," @Insane4Kickz wrote.

"Who cares, (there are) not enough pairs. Shove 'em up Nike's a**," @JoelmontesJoel said.

"Great rollout, but why make these so limited? Let everyone who wants these actually get 'em," @OfficialDDaniel wrote.

---

Air Jordan 1s soared in popularity following Nike's banned advertisement

Some fans may not be familiar with Nike capitalizing on the NBA outlawing the Air Jordan 1s. Nevertheless, the marketing ploy is largely credited with helping the shoe model's popularity skyrocket.

Upon the Air Jordan sneaker line's April 1985 public release, Nike reportedly aimed to make $3 million over its first three years. Instead, it netted $126 million in the first year.

Jordan's apparel has grown in popularity ever since, with Jordan Brand's sales totaling $7 billion last year.

---