Michael Jordan is about his business, but for Jordan, it's not necessarily all about money, as his image also plays a major factor when deciding which products to endorse.
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According to a report from Business Insider, Jordan once turned down a lucrative endorsement deal with Van Camp's Beanee Weenees - a pork and beans mix - because he didn't like the name of the product and he didn't use it himself.
While one might think that Jordan doesn't need another endorsement - or revenue stream - anyway, it's especially noteworthy because the rejected deal came early in Jordan's NBA career - before he had established himself as a multiple-time champion, and money machine.
From Business Insider:
In May 1992, Jordan did a lengthy interview with Playboy that was later reproduced at Longform. Mark Vancil asked Jordan about products he turned down, and His Airness revealed that he rejected one substantial offer because he did not use the product and did not like the name.
"Two or three years ago Quaker Oats came to me to endorse Van Kamp's pork and beans—Beanee Weenees, I think it was called," Jordan said. "You ever heard of Beanee Weenees pork and beans? It was close to a million bucks a year. I'm saying, Beanee Weenees? How can I stand in front of a camera and say I'll eat Beanee Weenees?"
At the time he rejected Beanee Weenees, Jordan had made less than $4-5 million total in four or five NBA seasons. Turning down a multi-year offer worth nearly $1 million per year was likely not a light decision.
The article from Business Insider also reveals that Jordan backed out of a hair-related endorsement deal once he started to go bald because he wanted to be viewed as a fair businessman.
"If I wanted to be a hardnosed businessman, I could have been in a lot of deals, like the one with Johnson Products," Jordan said. "I had a deal with them for their hair-care products. I had two or three more years on that deal when I started losing my hair. So I forfeited the deal. But if I had wanted to be greedy, I could've said, Screw you, you didn't know my hair was falling out so you owe me money. But I didn't."
While some athletes will take any endorsement opportunity that comes their way for the check, it's clear that Jordan has always taken all of his deals very seriously, and that is probably a big part of the reason why he has been so successful, both on and off the court.
