adidas Superstar Gets Star Treatment in Samuel L. Jackson Campaign
adidas has enlisted Samuel L. Jackson to anchor a new campaign celebrating the Superstar's enduring place in culture. The spot, titled 'The Original Icon,' positions the silhouette as an artifact of sustained relevance—a shoe that has moved through hip-hop, film, fashion, and street culture with the ease of an established institution.
The Superstar has long transcended its 1969 basketball court origins. Over five decades, the model has accumulated a mythology that extends far beyond performance footwear—it's become shorthand for cultural authority, worn by those who make rather than follow trends. adidas's latest narrative capitalizes on this stature by casting Jackson as a guide searching through a surreal "Hotel Superstar" landscape in pursuit of the icon itself.
The campaign's conceit is deliberately metaphorical. Jackson's search becomes a meditation on authenticity and legacy, a fictional journey that mirrors the shoe's actual trajectory through music, cinema, and street identity. This approach signals a shift in how adidas is marketing the Superstar—less product-focused, more cultural historian.
The casting choice reinforces the message. Jackson carries the weight of his own cultural mythology, and pairing him with the Superstar creates a natural alignment between two entities that have both shaped and reflected American culture. The actor's role as narrator—a position he's inhabited across decades of film and television—grounds the campaign in a voice of earned credibility.
Design and Legacy
The Superstar remains formally unchanged in its essentials: the shell toe, the three stripes, the low-top silhouette. That consistency is the point. While collaborations and colorway rotations have given the model seasonal relevance, the core design has proven timeless enough to resist the urge toward radical reinvention. In the context of this campaign, that stability becomes a strength—evidence of design that survives trends.
The "Original Icon" framing is deliberate. adidas isn't positioning the Superstar as a trend-forward piece or a limited-edition pursuit. Instead, the narrative treats it as an artifact—something that has already proven its permanence and simply awaits rediscovery by new generations.
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Release Info
Availability: Campaign ongoing; Superstar available in multiple colorways
Retail Price: $90 USD (standard colorways)
Retailers: adidas.com, selected sneaker retailers, department stores
