Masculinity in Timberland boot advertisements
Cimarron Wortham

By carefully considering a printed advertisement, taking into account visual and textual cues on the printed page as well as our knowledge about past and current uses of the product being sold and the intended market, we can transform these advertisements into texts with interesting and important things to say about the construction of sex/gender/sexuality in the society in which the ads appear. Ads are carefully crafted by advertisers to illicit in the viewer the desire to buy the product being advertised, and this is often done by telling the viewer that the product will somehow help them to define or express their "inner self." Below, I will analyze a particular ad for Timberland Classic Yellow Boots that appeared in The New York Times Magazine (Oct. 5, 2003). While the ad pictures only a pair of well-worn boots on a wooden porch, the main headline reads "Be the one who never comes apart at the seams." This phrase, as intended by the creators of the ad, draws upon the readers' ideas about masculinity and femininity. As I will show, this ad begins with the readers' conception of masculinity encapsulated by a tough do-anything, go-anywhere attitude, contrasted against a more fragile and uncontrollably emotional femininity that is prone to "coming apart at the seams," and tells a story about how the product will make its buyer more capable of living up to this particular ideal of masculinity. Also, I will argue that the ideal of masculinity appealed to is a creation specific to the United States.

The Timberland company history goes back to 1918 in Boston, Massachusetts when its founder began making boots under the name Abington Shoe Company; the name "Timberland" started as the brand name for the company's original waterproof boot, and was adopted as the company name in 1973 because the boot was so popular (Timberland,2003). The company is currently owned by Jeffrey Swartz, the grandson of the founder. From its website, the company appears to have always been very proud of its product, and credits itself with the creation of the first waterproof boot. Their self-written history emphasizes the fact that the company was built by a man who worked "with his own hands," as did those who wore his boots. The emphasis and value placed on working with your own hands is, I believe rooted in U.S. history and therefore particular to the U.S. For most of its existence, the company only made men's boots, only adding a women's line in the mid 1980's. While the product line may be expanding, Timberland currently has 49 models of men's boots, compared to only 16 models of women's boots, suggesting that the company is still primarily oriented towards men.

The Timberland boot ad, as with any ad, is designed to control the way we think about the product being advertised. This particular ad portrays the boots as rugged and prepared to work at least as hard as their wearer. The boots are shown after a long day of work; they are left on an old wooden porch, still wet and covered in dirt, in the glow of a setting sun. I believe that it is also important to note the close-up view of the boots, suggesting that the viewer has an intimate relationship (if such a thing is possible) with the boots. The closeness of the photo is, I think, meant to make the viewer feel that they are also the one who wore the boots. The main headline addresses the reader and invokes, according to a writer for ADWEEK, "traditional manly virtue whose stock has risen in the post-9/11 era" (Dolliver, 2003). The reference to September 11, 2001, while often overdone, seems appropriate in this case. The text of the ad says the boots are for those who have the "strength of your convictions," mirroring much recent political rhetoric. Also, the significance of this ad appearing in a New York magazine cannot have been lost on its creators. The implicit invocation of recent U.S. history suggests that the "Americanness" of the masculinity is important to the advertisers. The ad seems to compliment the viewer for being the one who "never comes apart at the seams," without having to mention the one who does. I can only imagine that the unnamed but unstable person who does come apart at the seams is intended to be the wearer/viewer's wife. In this way, the ad is portraying the boots as a product that will help to uphold a strong, stoic, and American, conception of masculinity.

There is a slight paradox in this ad: it is advertising a product ostensibly targeting men who work outside in less than clean conditions, yet it is placed in The New York Times Magazine, which claims a readership primarily consisting of "affluent, educated professionals" (The New York Times Company, 2003). But these two groups do not necessarily (or even regularly, in my experience) coincide. This paradox is resolved by the understanding that ads do not simply present products as solutions to our everyday needs. Instead, ads attract our attention by appealing to how we see, or would like to see ourselves. This ad is attempting to sell a product to affluent, educated professionals by telling them that it will make them closer to a particular kind of masculinity. The kind of masculinity advertised is that of a person who would walk through a "puddle or a river" and has the "strength of [their] convictions." The New York-9/11 connection brings to mind the image of a heroic firefighter who might wear the boots. Perhaps, for a man who spends much of his day doubting himself in an office or boardroom, owning these boots would be seen as a way to recapture some of the strength and authority that comes from being level-headed and prepared for any situation. Considering the audience to be reached by placing the ad in The New York Times Magazine, it is as if the boots are being sold as a tool for self-expression, more than as a tool for everyday work on a ranch.

Works Cited

About Timberland. 2003. The Timberland Company. Retrieved November 13, 2003. <http://www.timberland.com/cgi-bin/timberland/timberland/partner_promo.jsp?source=\indentH&promotion=abt&destination=corporate/tim_about.jsp>.

Advertising in The New York Times Magazine: Research/Audience. The New York Times Company. Retrieved November 13, 2003. <http://www.nytadvertising.com/was/magazine/pages/contentMagazine/0,1043,,00.html?l1Id=4&l2Id=22>.

Dolliver, Mark. Timberland. October 6, 2003. ADWEEK. Retrieved November 13, 2003. <http://www.adweek.com/aw/search/search_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1994187>.