Giving guns as Christmas presents has been one of the ways in which boys and young men have traditionally been recruited into American gun culture. This paper explores how advertising in Boys’ Life magazine, among other data sources, has represented this special Christmas giving in terms of suitable types and brands of guns, appropriate shooting activities, family gifting tableaux and rituals, fantasy consumption, and masculinity theory. Over the period studied, from the turn of the twentieth century until the early twenty-first, this socialization through gift-giving has been remarkably consistent and provides insight into the durability of American gun culture.
AndersonEric (2009), Inclusive Masculinity: The Changing Nature of Masculinities. London and New York: Routledge.
4.
ArnouldEric J.ThompsonCraig J. (2015), “Introduction: Consumer Culture Theory: Ten Years Gone (and Beyond),”in Research in Consumer Behavior, Vol. 17, ThyroffAnastasia E.MurrayJeff B.RussellW, ed. Belk. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 1–21.
5.
BeardFred (2018), “Archiving the Archives: The World’s Collections of Historical Advertisements and Marketing Ephemera,” Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, 10 (1), 86–106.
6.
BelkRussell W. (1987), “A Child’s Christmas in America: Santa Claus as Deity, Consumption as Religion,” Journal of American Culture, 10 (1), 87–100.
7.
BelkRussell W. (1989), “Materialism and the Modern U.S. Christmas”, in Interpretive Consumer Research, HirschmanElizabeth C., ed. Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research, 115–35.
8.
BelkRussell W.CostaJaneen (1998), “The Mountain Man Myth: A Contemporary Consuming Fantasy,” Journal of Consumer Research, 25 (3), 218–40.
9.
BlairM. ElizabethHyattEva M. (1995), “The Marketing of Guns to Women: Factors Influencing Gun-Related Attitudes and Gun Ownership by Women,” Journal of Public Policy Marketing, 14 (1), 117–27.
10.
BoorstinDaniel (1973), The Americans: The Democratic Experience. New York: Random House.
11.
BoyentonWilliam H. (1965), “The Negro Turns to Advertising,” Journalism Quarterly, 42 (2), 227–35.
12.
Boys’ Life (1911), “The Boy Scout Movement: What Are the Boy Scouts?” 1 (March 1), 34.
BrannonRobert (1976), “The Male Sex Role: Our Culture’s Blueprint of Manhood, and What It’s Done for Us Lately,” in The Forty-Nine Percent Majority, DavisDeborah S.BrannonRobert, eds. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1–45.
15.
BrowderLaura (2006), Her Best Shot: Women and Guns in America. Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.
16.
BurbickJoan (2006), Gun Show Nation: Gun Culture and American Democracy. New York: The New Press.
17.
CannifordRobin (2011), “A Typology of Consumption Communities,” in Research in Consumer Behavior, Vol. 13, BelkRussell W.GraysonKentMunizAlbert M.SchauHope J., eds. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 57–75.
18.
CareyArthur A. (1915), The Scout Law in Practice. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company.
Children’s Advertising Review Unit (2014), Self-Regulatory Program for Children’s Advertising. New York: Council of Better Business Bureaus.
21.
Chronicling America (2019), “Winchester Junior Rifle Corps,” search term from 1917 to 1931. (accessed August 16, 2019), [available athttps://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov].
22.
ConnellR. W. (2005), Masculinities, 2nd ed. Berkeley: University of California Press.
23.
ConnellR. W.MesserschmidtJames W. (2005), “Hegemonic Masculinity: Rethinking the Concept,” Gender and Society, 19 (6), 829–59.
24.
CoxAmy Ann (2007), “Aiming for Manhood: The Transformation of Guns into Objects of American Masculinity,” in Open Fire: Understanding Global Gun Cultures, SpringwoodCharles Fruehling, ed. Oxford: Berg, 141–52.
25.
CramerClayton E. (2018), Lock, Stock, and Barrel: The Origins of American Gun Culture. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.
26.
DizerJohn T. (1994), “The Birth and Boyhood of Boys’ Life,” Scouting, November-December, 16, 41.
27.
FoxFrank W. (1975), Madison Avenue Goes to War: The Strange Military Career of American Advertising, 1941–45. Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press.
28.
FriedmanMorgan (2020), The Inflation Calculator. (accessed February 29, 2019), [available athttps://westegg.com/inflation/].
29.
FurmanGabriel (ca1830/1939), “Winter Amusements in New York in the Early 19th Century,” The New-York Historical Society Quarterly Bulletin, 23, 3–18.
30.
HaagPamela (2016), The Gunning of America: Business and the Making of American Gun Culture. New York: Basic Books.
31.
HallStuart (1997), “The Work of Representation,” in Representation: Cultural Representations and Signifying Practices, HallStuart, ed. London: Sage, 13–74.
32.
HantoverJeffrey P. (1978), “The Boy Scouts and the Validation of Masculinity,” Journal of Social Issues, 34 (1), 184–95.
33.
HenningRobert A.WitkowskiTerrence H. (2013), “The Advertising of E. Remington & Sons: The Creation of a National Brand, 1854-1888,” Journal of Historical Research in Marketing5 (4), 418–38.
34.
HofstadterRichard (1970), “America as a Gun Culture,” American Heritage, 21 (6), 4–11, 82–85.
HouzeHerbert G. (2006), Samuel Colt: Arms, Art, and Invention. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press and the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art.
37.
JacobsonLisa (2001), “Manly Boys and Enterprising Dreamers: Business Ideology and the Construction of the Boy Consumer, 1910-1930,” Enterprise & Society, 2 (2), 225–58.
38.
JacobsonLisa (2004), Raising Consumers: Children and the American Mass Market in the Early Twentieth Century. New York: Columbia University Press.
39.
JonesDaryl (1978), The Dime Novel Western. Bowling Green, OH: The Popular Press.
40.
JordanBen (2010), “‘Conservation of Boyhood:’ Boy Scouting’s Modest Manliness and Natural Resource Conservation, 1910–1930,” Environmental History, 15 (4), 612–42.
41.
KassarjianHarold H. (1969), “The Negro and American Advertising,” Journal of Marketing Research, 6 (1), 29–39.
42.
KeatonAngela F. (2010), “Backyard Desperados: American Attitudes Concerning Toy Guns in the Early Cold War Era,” The Journal of American Culture, 33 (3), 183–96.
43.
KimmelMichael (1996), Manhood in America: A Cultural History. New York: The Free Press.
44.
KimmelMichael S. (1994), “Consuming Manhood: The Feminization of American Culture and the Recreation of the American Male Body, 1832-1920,” Michigan Quarterly Review, 33 (1), 7–36.
New York Times (1922), “Winchester Junior Rifle Corps Medals to 60,000,” (May 21), Section S, 31.
55.
NissenbaumStephen (1996), The Battle for Christmas: A Cultural History of America’s Most Cherished Holiday. New York: Vintage Books.
56.
OsgerbyBill (2001), Playboys in Paradise: Masculinity, Youth and Leisure-style in Modern America. Oxford: Berg.
57.
RestadPenne L. (1995), Christmas in America: A History. New York: Oxford University Press.
58.
RobbinsWalter L. (1973), “Christmas Shooting Rounds in America and Their Background,” The Journal of American Folklore, 86 (339), 48–52.
59.
RookDennis W. (1985), “The Ritual Dimension of Consumer Behavior,” Journal of Consumer Research, 12 (3), 252–64.
60.
RosaJoseph G.MayRobin (1989), Buffalo Bill and His Wild West: A Pictorial Biography. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.
61.
RoseGillian (2012), Visual Methodologies: An Introduction to Researching with Visual Materials. London: Sage.
62.
RotundoE. Anthony (1993), American Manhood: Transformations in Masculinity from the Revolution to the Modern Era. New York: Basic Books.
63.
SaylorElizabeth A.VittesKatherine A.SorensonSusan B. (2004), “Firearms Advertising: Product Depiction in Consumer Gun Magazines,” Evaluation Review, 28 (5), 420–33.
64.
SchmidtLeigh Eric (1991), “The Commercialization of the Calendar: American Holidays and the Culture of Consumption, 1870-1930,” The Journal of American History, 78 (3), 887–916.
65.
Sears, Roebuck, and Co. (1897), 1897 Sears Roebuck & Co. Catalogue, 2007 Facsimile Edition. New York: Skyhorse Publishing.
66.
SewellWilliam H.Jr. (2005), Logics of History: Social Theory and Social Transformation. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
67.
SilvermanDavid J. (2016), Thundersticks: Firearms and the Violent Transformation of Native America. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
68.
SingerPeter (2009), Animal Liberation, 4th ed. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.
69.
SlotkinRichard (1992), Gunfighter Nation: The Myth of the Frontier in Twentieth-Century America. New York: Atheneum.
70.
SmithRuth AnnLuxDavid S. (1993), “Historical Method in Consumer Research: Developing Causal Explanations of Change,” Journal of Consumer Research, 19 (4), 595–610.
WilliamsonHarold F. (1952), Winchester: The Gun That Won the West. Washington, DC: The Sportsman’s Press.
80.
WilsonR. L. (1991), Winchester: An American Legend. New York: Chartwell Books.
81.
WitkowskiTerrence H. (2003), “World War II Poster Campaigns: Preaching Frugality to American Consumers,” Journal of Advertising, 32 (1), 69–82.
82.
WitkowskiTerrence H. (2018), “Visualizing Winchester: A Brand History Through Iconic Western Images,” Journal of Historical Research in Marketing, 10 (4), 383–419.
YamaneDavidIvorySebastian L.YamanePaul (2019), “The Rise of Self-Defense in Gun Advertising, The American Rifleman, 1918-2017,” in Gun Studies: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Politics, Policy, and Practice, CarlsonJenniferGossKristin A.ShapiraHarel, eds. London and New York: Routledge, 9–27.
