Tag: Mean Joe Greene

If I had to name my favorite commercials, it would be a really short list. This Mean Joe Greene and Kid commercial would top the shortlist, though. People talk about famous Super Bowl commercials. This one is probably remembered the most. I loved it as a kid…watching Mean Joe Greene, who just by name alone would scare you…but to see him as a kind person giving a kid a jersey? It made me root for the Steelers at the time…although I pulled for the Rams in the Super Bowl…that didn’t help. 

This ad debuted on October 1, 1979. It showed an injured Mean Joe headed for the locker room to encounter a star-struck kid (Tommy Okon) who offered Mean Joe a coke. Greene eventually took the coke and while limping away pitched his jersey to the kid.

The commercial spot aired repeatedly through Superbowl XIV where the Steelers beat the Rams 31-19. It took 3 days to film the commercial and Joe ended up drinking around 18 cokes to finish it.

When Greene found out Tommy Okon didn’t get to keep the jersey from the commercial, he mailed him an autographed jersey for Christmas. This says a lot about Greene’s character. Why didn’t the commercial people let the kid keep the jersey? 

Coke looked at Roger Staubach, Tony Dorsett, Ed “Too Tall” Jones, and teammate Jack Lambert but Joe Greene won out. The right man got the job. The commercial helped to soften Joe Greene’s reputation. Before it aired, Greene said people were intimidated by him. This is a quote from Greene. “I was suddenly approachable, little kids were no longer afraid of me, and older people – both women and men – would come up and offer me a Coke.”

It was directed by Roger Mosconi, and produced by McCann Erickson for Coca-Cola. Tommy Okon was a nine-year-old child actor at the time. It was later remade multiple times, including versions featuring soccer star Zico in Brazil and other athletes worldwide.

Greene was injured at the time of filming. His limping in the commercial wasn’t entirely an act…he had been dealing with real knee pain. Between that and all the soda he drank, he later joked that it was one of the toughest things he had done in his career.

It also should be said how popular the Steelers were in the 1970s. They were the first team to win 4 Super Bowls and were without a defeat. They had one of the best defenses ever, and their offense was run by Terry Bradshaw. By this time, the team was aging, and they would win their 3rd Super Bowl against the Rams a few months after the commercial was filmed. They are considered one of the greatest teams in the NFL ever. Greene was nearing the end of his career. He was drafted in 1969 and would retire in 1981. 

Reunion 36 years later.