Jocks in Jocks: Sportsmen and underwear advertising

In 2012, British Football player David Beckham launched a range of self-branded underwear. He had previously modelled underwear for Emporio Armani. In both of these instances, Beckham followed in the footsteps of many other sportsmen throughout the twentieth century who were utilized by underwear brands to promote their products. Predating Beckham by 80 years American Baseball player Babe Ruth had featured in advertisements for Coopers and Sons Jockey underwear and launched his own brand of undergarments in the 1930s. This article will examine the changing use of sportsmen in underwear advertising over the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, examining the way in which the sportsman’s body has been presented as a hard muscular ‘rock’ or passive ‘languid leaner’ and been increasingly objectified and commodified.