Back to the Future shoe helps raise $11.3 million for charity

The well-publicised ten-day charity auction of 1,500 pairs of Nike MAG shoes – based on those worn by actor Michael J Fox as the character Marty McFly in the hit 1989 movie Back to the Future II – raised an incredible $5.6 million. This figure was boosted by Google founder Sergey Brin and his wife Anne Wojcicki’s pledge to match all donations, resulting in over $11.3 million being presented to the Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Disease Research.

“This project is exciting to me because it brings together three very passionate audiences – the Parkinson’s community, sneakerheads and Back to the Future fans,” said Michael J Fox. “With their support we can accelerate our objective of finding a cure for Parkinson’s.”

British rapper Tinie Tempah won a pair for an astounding $37,500, with American singer Kanye West and San Francisco Giants baseball pitcher Brian Wilson also securing their footwear in the sale. The power of a movie icon is emphasised by the fact that the original shoe appeared for less than a minute in a film that is now over 20 years old.

Publishing Data

This article was originally published on page 4 of the November 2011 issue of SATRA Bulletin.

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