Bo Knows
Encyclopedia
"Bo Knows" was an advertising
campaign for Nike cross-training shoes that ran in 1989 and 1990 and featured professional baseball
and American football
player Bo Jackson
.
Jackson was the first athlete in the modern era to play professional baseball and football in the same year. He was the perfect spokesman for a shoe geared toward an athlete actively engaged in more than one sport at a time or with little time between activities to switch to sport-specific footwear.
saying, "Bo knows baseball." The next scene shows Jackson on the gridiron
, with quarterback
Jim Everett
explaining, "Bo knows football." Jackson then plays basketball
, tennis
, and ice hockey
and goes running
, with Michael Jordan
, John McEnroe
, and Mary Decker
vouching for Jackson's knowledge of their sports (Wayne Gretzky
, when confronted with Jackson laying a body check, simply says "No.") The ad concludes with Jackson trying to play the guitar
--and failing badly—whereupon blues
legend Bo Diddley
exclaims, "Bo, you don't know diddley!" Coincidentally, the spot first aired during the commercial break immediately following Jackson's lead-off home run in the 1989 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
. The music for the "Cross Training" ads was written and performed by Diddley.
, soccer (featuring Ian Rush
), cricket
(featuring Ian Botham
), surfing
, weightlifting
, auto racing
, and horse racing
as a jockey
.
In one version of the commercial, after Jackson is shown trying several activities, a confused Sonny Bono
walks into the shot and says (playing off the tag line), "I thought this was another Bono's commercial."
In another, Bo Jackson grew frustrated with an over-the-top musical number and walked off the set. George Foreman
, sensing an opportunity to seize the spotlight, took his place in the musical number.
The ad campaign was very successful, making cross-trainers Nike's number-two line behind its famous basketball shoes. It was subsequently parodied by the ProStars
cartoon, which featured likenesses of Jackson, Wayne Gretzky
, and Michael Jordan
. While the character based on Jackson spoke normally, he would say in the third person
"Bo knows [____]" when asked or prompted to do something in almost every episode.
There was also a Public Service Announcement
variant encouraging students to stay in school which had multiple copies of Bo appearing simultaneously humorously discussing how Bo knows various academic subjects.
" by A Tribe Called Quest
, Phife Dawg
states "Bo knows this, and Bo knows that, but Bo don't know jack, 'cause Bo can't rap..."
In popular culture
, the phrase was well known enough for street vendors to hawk T-shirts which such modified versions of the slogan as, "Bo Knows New Kids on the Block
Suck."
It was also parodied in a Sesame Street
sketch (1991) where Jackson demonstrated various things that the show teaches (letters, numbers, opposites), with Diddley and the Sesame Street Muppets making "Bo Knows" comments in between. At the end of the sketch, a Little Bo Peep
Muppet says, "Bo, you don't know Peep." Jackson says, "No, but I will in a minute," and they introduce themselves.
In 1995, MCA Records
released "Bo Knows Bo", an album of some of Bo Diddley's biggest hits including "Who Do You Love," "Hey Bo Diddley
," and "You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover
."
In the live concert Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
: Coming Out of Their Shells, during the Foot battle, Donatello
states "This is one thing Bo don't know," referring to his trademark Bo
stick.
On the "Animaniacs
" Chicken Boo spoofs the ads by trying different sports, but failing at all of them.
Jackson also poked fun at the ad campaign during a guest appearance on a first season episode of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. In the scene, he played basketball with Clark, portrayed by Dean Cain
. Bo clearly is the better athlete, until Clark uses his flying abilities to catch the ball. Bo replies, "Bo don't know that!"
WGN TV
in Chicago
ran a commercial for Bozo the Clown's local TV show. The ad similarly depicted Bozo
attempting to do a variety of sports, modifying the slogan to "Boze knows..."
The NRL Footy Show, in Australia
, runs a segment called Beau Knows in which Rugby league player Beau Ryan investigates a wide range of things in a comedic manner.
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
campaign for Nike cross-training shoes that ran in 1989 and 1990 and featured professional baseball
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each. The aim is to score runs by hitting a thrown ball with a bat and touching a series of four bases arranged at the corners of a ninety-foot diamond...
and American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
player Bo Jackson
Bo Jackson
Vincent Edward "Bo" Jackson is a former American baseball and football player. He was the first athlete to be named an All-Star in two major American sports, and also won the Heisman Trophy in 1985....
.
Jackson was the first athlete in the modern era to play professional baseball and football in the same year. He was the perfect spokesman for a shoe geared toward an athlete actively engaged in more than one sport at a time or with little time between activities to switch to sport-specific footwear.
Original ad
The original "Bo Knows" ad was a television commercial by firm Wieden & Kennedy. The spot opens with a shot of Jackson playing baseball and fellow ballplayer Kirk GibsonKirk Gibson
Kirk Harold Gibson is a former Major League Baseball player and currently the manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks. As a player, Gibson was an outfielder who batted and threw left-handed...
saying, "Bo knows baseball." The next scene shows Jackson on the gridiron
Gridiron football
Gridiron football , sometimes known as North American football, is an umbrella term for related codes of football primarily played in the United States and Canada. The predominant forms of gridiron football are American football and Canadian football...
, with quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
Jim Everett
Jim Everett
James Samuel Everett III is a retired professional American football quarterback who played for twelve seasons in the National Football League ....
explaining, "Bo knows football." Jackson then plays basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
, tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
, and ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
and goes running
Running
Running is a means of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. It is simply defined in athletics terms as a gait in which at regular points during the running cycle both feet are off the ground...
, with Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan is a former American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats...
, John McEnroe
John McEnroe
John Patrick McEnroe, Jr. is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player from the United States. During his career, he won seven Grand Slam singles titles , nine Grand Slam men's doubles titles, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title...
, and Mary Decker
Mary Decker
Mary Slaney is an American former track athlete. During her career, she won gold medals in the 1500 meters and 3000 meters at the 1983 World Championships, and set 17 official and unofficial world records and 36 US national records.-Biography:Mary Decker was born in Bunnvale, Hunterdon County, New...
vouching for Jackson's knowledge of their sports (Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Douglas Gretzky, CC is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. Nicknamed "The Great One", he is generally regarded as the best player in the history of the National Hockey League , and has been called "the greatest hockey player ever" by many sportswriters,...
, when confronted with Jackson laying a body check, simply says "No.") The ad concludes with Jackson trying to play the guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
--and failing badly—whereupon blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
legend Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley
Ellas Otha Bates , known by his stage name Bo Diddley, was an American rhythm and blues vocalist, guitarist, songwriter , and inventor...
exclaims, "Bo, you don't know diddley!" Coincidentally, the spot first aired during the commercial break immediately following Jackson's lead-off home run in the 1989 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
1989 Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The 1989 Major League Baseball All-Star Game was the 60th playing of the midsummer classic between the all-stars of the American League and National League , the two leagues comprising Major League Baseball. The game was held on July 11, 1989 at Anaheim Stadium in Anaheim, California, the home of...
. The music for the "Cross Training" ads was written and performed by Diddley.
Subsequent ads
Later "Bo Knows" ads saw Jackson trying his hand at cyclingCycling
Cycling, also called bicycling or biking, is the use of bicycles for transport, recreation, or for sport. Persons engaged in cycling are cyclists or bicyclists...
, soccer (featuring Ian Rush
Ian Rush
Ian James Rush, MBE, is a retired football player from Flint, Wales. He is best remembered as a player for Liverpool, where he was among the top strikers in the English game in the 1980s and 1990s. He also had spells playing at Chester City, Juventus, Leeds United, Newcastle United, Sheffield...
), cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...
(featuring Ian Botham
Ian Botham
Sir Ian Terence Botham OBE is a former England Test cricketer and Test team captain, and current cricket commentator. He was a genuine all-rounder with 14 centuries and 383 wickets in Test cricket, and remains well-known by his nickname "Beefy"...
), surfing
Surfing
Surfing' is a surface water sport in which the surfer rides a surfboard on the crest and face of a wave which is carrying the surfer towards the shore...
, weightlifting
Powerlifting
Powerlifting is a strength sport. It resembles the sport of Olympic weightlifting, as both disciplines involve lifting weights in three attempts. Powerlifting evolved from a sport known as 'odd lifts' which followed the same three attempt format but used a wide variety of events akin to Strongman...
, auto racing
Auto racing
Auto racing is a motorsport involving the racing of cars for competition. It is one of the world's most watched televised sports.-The beginning of racing:...
, and horse racing
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
as a jockey
Jockey
A jockey is an athlete who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing.-Etymology:...
.
In one version of the commercial, after Jackson is shown trying several activities, a confused Sonny Bono
Sonny Bono
Salvatore Phillip "Sonny" Bono was an American recording artist, record producer, actor, and politician whose career spanned over three decades.-Early life:...
walks into the shot and says (playing off the tag line), "I thought this was another Bono's commercial."
In another, Bo Jackson grew frustrated with an over-the-top musical number and walked off the set. George Foreman
George Foreman
George Edward Foreman is an American two-time former World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, Olympic gold medalist, ordained Baptist minister, author and successful entrepreneur...
, sensing an opportunity to seize the spotlight, took his place in the musical number.
The ad campaign was very successful, making cross-trainers Nike's number-two line behind its famous basketball shoes. It was subsequently parodied by the ProStars
ProStars
ProStars was a Saturday morning cartoon show produced by DiC that aired on NBC from September 14 to December 7, 1991.-Synopsis:Originally intended to air on ESPN, the show centers on Michael Jordan, Bo Jackson and Wayne Gretzky fighting crime and helping children, often protecting the environment...
cartoon, which featured likenesses of Jackson, Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Gretzky
Wayne Douglas Gretzky, CC is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. Nicknamed "The Great One", he is generally regarded as the best player in the history of the National Hockey League , and has been called "the greatest hockey player ever" by many sportswriters,...
, and Michael Jordan
Michael Jordan
Michael Jeffrey Jordan is a former American professional basketball player, active entrepreneur, and majority owner of the Charlotte Bobcats...
. While the character based on Jackson spoke normally, he would say in the third person
Third person
Third person may refer to:* A grammatical person, he, she, "them" and they in the English language* Third-person narrative, a perspective in plays, storytelling, or movies...
"Bo knows [____]" when asked or prompted to do something in almost every episode.
There was also a Public Service Announcement
Public service announcement
A public service announcement or public service ad is a type of advertisement featured on television, radio, print or other media...
variant encouraging students to stay in school which had multiple copies of Bo appearing simultaneously humorously discussing how Bo knows various academic subjects.
In popular culture and spoofs
In the song "ScenarioScenario (A Tribe Called Quest)
"Scenario" is the third single from A Tribe Called Quest's second album The Low End Theory. The song features members of Leaders of the New School. Matt Cibula of PopMatters called the track hip hop's greatest posse cut...
" by A Tribe Called Quest
A Tribe Called Quest
A Tribe Called Quest is an American hip hop group, formed in 1985, and is composed of rapper/producer Q-Tip , rapper Phife Dawg , and DJ/producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad. A fourth member, rapper Jarobi White, left the group after their first album but rejoined in 2006...
, Phife Dawg
Phife Dawg
Malik Isaac Taylor , better known by his stage name Phife Dawg, is an American rapper of Trinidadian descent, and a member of the acclaimed group A Tribe Called Quest with high school classmates Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad...
states "Bo knows this, and Bo knows that, but Bo don't know jack, 'cause Bo can't rap..."
In popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
, the phrase was well known enough for street vendors to hawk T-shirts which such modified versions of the slogan as, "Bo Knows New Kids on the Block
New Kids on the Block
New Kids on the Block are an American boy band from Boston, Massachusetts, assembled in 1984 by producer Maurice Starr. The band currently consists of brothers Jordan and Jonathan Knight, Joey McIntyre, Donnie Wahlberg, and Danny Wood.New Kids on the Block enjoyed success in the late 1980s and...
Suck."
It was also parodied in a Sesame Street
Sesame Street
Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...
sketch (1991) where Jackson demonstrated various things that the show teaches (letters, numbers, opposites), with Diddley and the Sesame Street Muppets making "Bo Knows" comments in between. At the end of the sketch, a Little Bo Peep
Little Bo Peep
"Little Bo Peep" or "Little Bo Peep has lost her sheep" is a popular English language nursery rhyme. It has a Roud Folk Song Index number of 6487.-Lyrics:As with most products of oral tradition, there are many variations to the rhyme...
Muppet says, "Bo, you don't know Peep." Jackson says, "No, but I will in a minute," and they introduce themselves.
In 1995, MCA Records
MCA Records
MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...
released "Bo Knows Bo", an album of some of Bo Diddley's biggest hits including "Who Do You Love," "Hey Bo Diddley
Hey Bo Diddley
"Hey! Bo Diddley" is Bo Diddley's 8th Checker Records single released as a single in April 1957 by Checker Records. The single's b-side was "Mona" .-Recording:...
," and "You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover
You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover
"You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover" is a 1962 song by rock and roll pioneer Bo Diddley. Written by Willie Dixon, the song was one of Diddley's last record chart hits...
."
In the live concert Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are a fictional team of four teenage anthropomorphic turtles, who were trained by their anthropomorphic rat sensei in the art of ninjutsu and named after four Renaissance artists...
: Coming Out of Their Shells, during the Foot battle, Donatello
Donatello
Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi , also known as Donatello, was an early Renaissance Italian artist and sculptor from Florence...
states "This is one thing Bo don't know," referring to his trademark Bo
Bo
-People:*Bo , name origin, plus people with the name*Bo , name origin, plus people with the surname**Bo , Chinese family names*Bo people , extinct minority population in Southern China famous for hanging coffins...
stick.
On the "Animaniacs
Animaniacs
Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
" Chicken Boo spoofs the ads by trying different sports, but failing at all of them.
Jackson also poked fun at the ad campaign during a guest appearance on a first season episode of Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. In the scene, he played basketball with Clark, portrayed by Dean Cain
Dean Cain
Dean Cain is an American actor. He is most widely known for his role as Clark Kent/Superman in the popular American television series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.-Early life:...
. Bo clearly is the better athlete, until Clark uses his flying abilities to catch the ball. Bo replies, "Bo don't know that!"
WGN TV
WGN-TV
WGN-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the CW-affiliated television station in Chicago, Illinois built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WGN-TV's studios and offices are located at 2501 W...
in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
ran a commercial for Bozo the Clown's local TV show. The ad similarly depicted Bozo
Bozo the Clown
Bozo the Clown is a clown character very popular in the United States, peaking in the 1960s as a result of widespread franchising in early television.Originally created by Alan W...
attempting to do a variety of sports, modifying the slogan to "Boze knows..."
The NRL Footy Show, in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, runs a segment called Beau Knows in which Rugby league player Beau Ryan investigates a wide range of things in a comedic manner.
External links
- Adweek citation as one of the best TV commercials of the 1990s.
- ""Say It Ain't Bo!", Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
, July 27, 1990 (retrieved June 8, 2007). - "The Sneaker Wars: Going Toe-to-Toe" by Bernice Kanner, in The Super Bowl of Advertising: How the Commercials Won the Game, Bloomberg Press, 2004. (PDF file)