"Ewwwww gross!! Hahahaha!"

[djdevilct]

Sorry, moderators, for attaching a pic but it's crucial to this foot-related topic..

I was just flipping thru the new Details magazine [April 2009] and stopped abruptly on this Diesel ad. My first reaction was nervous laughter and a "wow! i can't believe they printed this!" I kept flipping but I was quickly drawn back to the ad. I smiled at it a little more confidently than on first glance. It was kinda hot... "wow, having a foot fetish is definitely getting more exposure.. this is cool." Then I went back to flipping, wondering if something else could possibly trump the rush of discovering the image in that ad.

After a few beats, something hit me. I hurriedly pulled the pages back to find the ad again [the damn cologne inserts prevented a smooth fanning of the magazine to find it quickly... hahaha] Now I was examining it for more information, knowing that these photo shoots are planned so carefully that every single element that shows is on purpose. The main model is a classically gorgeous kid sitting in the chair with shirt and tie like a businessman, "allowing" his sneakers to be lavished and worshiped by a much older man [a la Pablo Picasso] laying facedown on the floor like a reptile, his hand desperately clutching the kid's ankle, his face in full ecstacy. The kid is sitting at the edge of his seat, involved but emotionally detached.. the way I imagine an escort might make sure his "client" is getting his money's worth.

Now look at the room.. It's not a hotel room. Which one of them lives there? Bowling trophies, drawn drapes, 1950's granny chair with fuzzy fringe... Is this supposed to be the open-minded kid's cool, retro-chic pad where he invites fellow foot guys over for some play? Or is this the older guy's stale place still filled with his childhood trophies and parents' furniture... where he can entertain out-call escorts?

"That's not what they meant. DJ, you're over-analyzing." Fine. But there is a message and feeling that is being transmitted here. Foot fetishists are CREEPY.

"Oh c'mon, get over yourself! it's just in good fun and entertainment." Great. So foot fetishists are LAUGHABLE too.

I have come a very long way in getting over my embarrassment about being into feet and I'm finally cool with it now, and I enjoy it without guilt as much as possible. I don't advertise it in my everyday life as an important part of who I am as a person, but I'm not afraid to talk about it with people in the right setting. Part of my reaction to this ad is embarrassment from the [national] exposure of the pleasure we get from the private footplay we like to do. And part of it is from feeling like the world laughs at us.

"Well fuck them all!" Yup. Fuck the entire world. Brilliant. "There's nothing wrong with us, it's them!" I know, I know...

I'm not saying this is a terrible attack or should be removed or punished or anything. I guess my point is, when was the last time you saw any foot-related play in the public media WITHOUT the creepy/joke part? The same old joke gets really tiring.

::cleansing breath:: There. Thanks for letting me get it off my chest. :-)

[OBG]

You bring up an interesting point. I think the photo says a lot of different things. I also think it's decidedly mixed message. The shoes are supposed to be hot. So, they are accordingly worshiped. The shoes are young and edgy, so to illustrate that point they are treading over the face of an older man. But while the ad would certainly draw an "ewwww! from many of the people who viewed it, I'm not entirely certain that's the intent. The young, pretty guy seems to be enjoying the domination quite a bit. Also, you eye isn't drawn to the worship right away. So, I think they are going for something a little elusive and, yes, subtle (and somehow over-the-top at the same time.)

Ultimately, I think it's subversive and controversial on purpose. I think they are looking for a strong reaction, but it's not merely shot in a creepy, "ewwww" kinda way.

[djdevilct]

Yup, the ad is definitely about sexy, powerful sneaks... and i've already gotten some wildly diverse reactions from footguys and non-footguys! I'm not sure that a mixed message is efficient in the costly world of advertising, but controversy always brings attention to the ad -- altho not always to the product itself!

Thanks for your feedback :-)

[cheesehead]

I think to an extent you may be over analyzing. I think the picture its' self is meant to look retro in the sense that the time frame is supposed to be sometime during the 1950's. I also think that it is great that a mainstream magazine would even show an image like this although the portrayal of the foot fetishist in the photograph is in my opion somewhat degrading. Why did they have to pick a much older man vulgarly drooling on this guy's feet and desperately grasping at the much younger man's ankles like he was a steak and he hadn't eaten in weeks?
Although the portrayal of the foot fetishist himself is somewhat degrading I still am happy that a mainstream magazine would even show this image because it shows that as foot fetishists we've come a long way in a rather short period of time. Ten years ago it would have been unheard of that we as a community would've gotten this type of exposure in a main stream publication that portrayed us in even a semi positive light if at all.
In many ways I view having a foot fetish, depending upon how intense one's fetish is as a sexual orientation within a sexual orientation, hence making us a minority within a minority. We have two closets to come out of rather than just one, so any positive exposure at all is in my opinion a very good thing. The way I view our community as gay foot fetishists is very much the way I imagine the mainstream gay community was pre stonewall. The ignorance that surrounds us is pretty ubiquitous thus making us very much a fringe group that as a whole most people both straight and gay know very little about and people are as a rule pretty reluctant to view anything "foreign" in a positive light and usually would much rather pretend that what makes them uncomfortable doesn't exist at all. Besides a few foot parties here and there in large cities when have you ever heard of a gay foot fetish bar? In every major city across the country there are usually several choices to choose from if you want to be with other mainstream gay people. Hell, in most cities there are usually a couple places to go in you want to go somewhere that caters to leather and BDSM. Within our own communities what is there for us? The answer nine times out of ten is nothing.
Our community as wonderful as it is, is pretty much restricted to the internet. If you want to find other footmen you pretty much have to go online and be prepared to travel, and you also have to be prepared to deal with alot of games, insecurities and baggage that comes from years of shame and invisibility that comes from being almost invisible even within the mainstream gay community that for some reason is all too willing to embrace every other form of diversity including some things that in my opinion are pretty unhealthy such as "watersports" and "barebacking" but if you tell them you like feet they get this blank stare on their faces and act like you might as well be from Mars.
The good news though is that we have the internet, which has done wonders to get us the exposure that we do have and I believe because of this our community may progress much faster than what was previously possible before. If Hollywood and maistream magazines are waking up to the fact that there are men out there who like other men's feet and are willing to portray us in even a semi positive light that gives me hope for the future that maybe one day we will get "our" places to go to meet other footmen and won't have to travel half way around the country just to meet a possible hookup or have a night on the town for a few hours at a private foot party. If Hollywood and mainstream publications are willing risk money by "catering" to us it all it tells me that maybe we aren't nearly as small of a minority as we currently think we are as these people are many things but stupid isn't one of them. I look forward to the day when I can leave the house and spend a few hours at the local gay foot bar the way mainstream gays can travel just a few miles and enjoy a night out at the local vanilla gay bar or leather bar.

[akeel]

I don't think you're overanalyzing - it's a provocative ad, for us in the foot community and for the mainstream for its blantant male on male action. It depicts homosexual erotica and sadomasochism, which has been a staple of the fashion world and its advertising for decades. This ad is so blatantly playing with a particular and closeted fetish that is goes beyond mere suggestion. Whoever is behind it definitely is aware of the foot fetish community which has gained such a (dare I say?) footing with the advent of the worldwide internet. But there is something familiar and culturally relevant about this photo that taps into something that has been going on for centuries: the celebration and eroticism of youth.

The pic you've posted is different from the larger one I have seen - the one I have seen gives a broader view of the room, and to the left of the picture is a pair of barefeet (men's?) that are seen coming from the shadows of the room from a body (naked?) lying underneath the table beside the young man, which adds even more complexity to the scenario being presented. Is the body dead? Is the young man killing these men? Is this a foot orgy in which the young man has been paid? Is this a guy who collects slaves? The possibilities are endless.

The young man is in the tradition of the Beautiful Young Boy, the male version of the femme fatale (Thomas Mann's Tadzio from Death in Venice is a perfect example). The fact that the worshipper (victim?) is an older man, years older and far from physical perfection, puts the scenario squarely in the tradition of the Beautiful Boy of cultural myth, celebrated in Greek art and myth and down through the ages of art and literature up to modern times (young women starve themselves to be boyish, cancelling out the natural feminine curves, and the young man takes on seemingly feminine qualities that only accentuate an erotic masculine youthfulness - long hair, perfect smooth skin, etc. That's another discussion, though).

The message I see is ultimately what is celebrated in mainstream Pop culture: Youth tramples old age, beauty (youth) triumphs over ugliness (old age). That's the sinister aspect of this picture.

But we can take it as a (no pun intended) first step of dealing with a fetish that is arguably one of the most common in the human race: that of the erotic appeal of the human foot.

And also, it's selling sneakers, sneakers that give one power of triumph, separating youth from the previous generation and establishing something strong, new and Aryan. But that's the obvious message it is sending.