PUMP!ing it up

(Homowear: male models in underwear, displaying their bodies homoerotically, with archly queer ad copy. Not X-rated, but not to everyone’s taste.)

The Daily Jocks ad for PUMP! underwear from the 15th:

(#1)

Underwear model as sculptural form. Mahogany Man.

The ad copy:

A creamy style with a tangy twist, the Creamsicle Access Trunk is everyone’s favorite flavor.

The comfort waistband offers a secure fit for the soft touch micro-mesh in the front and open, backless design in the rear.

A cut built for confidence, the Creamsicle Access Trunk features a supportive cup with a nearly naked feel, plus retro styling that adds a bold and playful touch for when you’re (un)dressed to impress.

Creamsicles. Creamsicle in the name is an allusion to the frozen treat with the brand name Creamsicle. From the Wikipedia article on Popsicles:

A Popsicle is a Good Humor-Breyers brand of ice pop consisting of flavored, colored ice on a stick.

In 1905 in Oakland, California, 11-year-old Francis William “Frank” Epperson was mixing a powdered flavoring for soft drinks with water. He accidentally left it on the back porch overnight, with a stirring stick still in it. That night, the temperature dropped below freezing, and the next morning, Epperson discovered the drink had frozen to the stick, inspiring the idea of a fruit-flavored ‘Popsicle’ [pop as in lollipop, –sicle as in icicle; following on this terminological innovation, –sicle has become a libfix of wide application].

In 1922, he introduced the creation at a fireman’s ball, where according to reports it was “a sensation”. In 1923, Epperson began selling the frozen pops to the public at Neptune Beach, an amusement park in Alameda, California. By 1924 Epperson had received a patent for his “frozen confectionery” which he called “the Epsicle ice pop” He renamed it to Popsicle, allegedly at the insistence of his children. Popsicles were originally sold in fruity flavors and marketed as a “frozen drink on a stick.”

… The Popsicle brand began expanding from its original flavors after being purchased by Unilever in 1989. Under the Popsicle brand, Unilever holds the trademark for both Creamsicle and Fudgsicle. Creamsicle’s center is vanilla ice cream, covered by a layer of flavored ice. Creamsicle flavors include orange, blue raspberry, lime, grape, cherry and blueberry. [The prototypical Creamsicle is orange-flavored (and -colored).] Fudgsicles are flat, frozen desserts that come on a stick and are chocolate-flavored with a texture somewhat similar to ice cream.

Classic (orange-flavored) Creamsicles:

(#2)

(The racily backless underwear in #1 is of course colored orange (and gray and white).)

And Fudgsicles, in their package:

(#3)

(Other companies make coated ice cream bars in various flavors, especially orange, under other names: Nestlé’s Orange & Cream Bars, Hood’s Orange Cream Bars, and Pillsbury’s Orangesicles, for example.)

(Popsicles, like lollipops, are classic phallic symbols.)

On the PUMP! company. From my 11/9/15 posting “PUMP! Boys and Trojans”, which has 5 mages from PUMP! underwear ads:

PUMP! specializes in gym-oriented images (pumping iron and all that), though they also have a few pretty-boy models and a lot of models doing the slutty rentboy look

And on pumping it up. Start with NOAD on some verbings of the noun pump:

verb pump: 1 [a] [with adverbial of direction] force (liquid, gas, etc.) to move in a specified direction by or as if by means of a pump: the blood is pumped around the body | [no object]:  if we pump long enough, we should bring the level up. [b] [no object, with adverbial of direction] move in spurts as though driven by a pump: blood was pumping from a wound in his shoulder. 2 [a] fill (something such as a tire or balloon) with liquid or gas using a pump: I fetched the bike and pumped up the back tire | my veins had been pumped full of glucose. [b] informal shoot (bullets) into (a target). 3 [a] move vigorously up and down: [with object]: we had to pump the handle like mad | [no object]: that’s superb running — look at his legs pumping. [b] apply and release (a brake pedal or lever) several times in quick succession, typically to prevent skidding. [c] Baseball move one’s arm as if throwing a ball held in the hand, but without releasing the ball: [in combination]:  behind the plate Howard double-pumped, then threw to second.

[idiomatic] phrasal verb pump something up: informal [a] increase: she needs to read and pump up her political grip. [b] turn up the volume of (music): let’s pump up those tunes, man. [c] give inappropriate support and encouragement to: we let them pump up our egos.

GDoS has more detail on the slang idiom:

verb pump up: 1 to exaggerate [cites from 1977, 1999] 2 (US black/campus) to make livelier, to fill with energy [cites from 1991, 2001] 3 to lift weghts, to bodybuild [cite from 1994]

adj. pumped (up) [< pump up]: 1 (US) excited, full of something, usu. oneself [1971 Current Sl. VI:8: Pumped. adj. Excited. 1991 (con. 1920s) O.D. Brooks Legs 90: The thought of running a pool room by myself  three hours a day, seven days a week, had me so pumped up hardly slept. 1992 J. Mowry Way Past Cool 265: Crack was intense, but cruelly quick. On top, where the boy had been a minute ago, you were pumped to the max. 2007 T. Dorsey Hurricane Punch 4: Can’t tell how glad I am it’s hurricane season again. I’m so pumped!

Mahogany Man in #1 is pumped up (enlarged) by bodybuilding, and the photo aims to pump the viewer up, to get the viewer pumped (up), to excite the viewer. That’s what PUMP! does.

Two more items from PUMP!’s recent product lines, including another Access item (backless, to provide easy access to the wearer’s ass):


(#4) “The PUMP! All-Access Trunk fits like a typical boxer brief, except the backless rear brings the playfulness, freedom, and added sexiness of the Jockstrap. This truly is a new style underwear that is guaranteed to heat things up, for whatever the occasion.”


(#5) “For the ultimate in comfort and style, opt for the Academy Free-Fit Boxer. The snug and supportive fit keep everything exactly where it should be, while the soft touch micro-mesh makes for a barely there feel. With its classic red, white and blue color combo, the Academy Free-Fit Boxer is truly the perfect pair — no matter what the day (or night!) holds.”

This steamy photo adds two elements to the crotch focus of the underwear: the pitsntits presentation (with shaved pits) and a central preoccupation with the  model’s pumped abs. Plus that face.

Another abs-obsessed ad from Daily Jocks, back in September, for sportswear from the Spanish company Code 22, here with shirt-lifting rather than pitsntits:

(#6)

And with a different, but equally intense, facial expression. Top to bottom: face, abs, crotch. Framed by sinewy arms.

[Added a bit later: there is now a Page on this blog with an inventory of shirt-lifting postings.]

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