11 – Bean gets off on right foot with Bootmobile

Maybe as a child I was posed for photos one too many times in front of fiberglass Smokey Bears at summer picnic spots, but I love kitschy oversize fiberglass symbols of some company or animal or local attribute. 

Especially if they move.



The new BootMobile, right, next to the traditional
Bean Boot at the Freeport, Maine, headquarters



This week, L.L. Bean, the Maine-based outdoor retailer, unveiled a “BootMobile” – a giant replica of its iconic Bean Hunting (Duck) Boots – well, one of them.  The car has the rubber-soled bottom and leather toe where the hood and sides and trunk are, and on top of the roof is the lacing of the popular ankle-high boot.  The laces are made of 2-inch mooring rope used on tug boats, and they are accurate down to their two-tone color.

Since Bean is turning 100 years old this year, it’s sending the 13-foot high and 20-foot long BootMobile on tour of major U.S. cities this year.  It drove down from Freeport, Maine, headquarters to get off on the right foot in Times Square.

I love that!  And apparently I am not the only one – reporters do, too.  It made the Wall Street Journal, the NY Times, San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today and about a zillion blogs, including this one. 

Why do I love thee?  First of all, what a great job someone has!  Imagine being able to drive that thing around the country and have little kids – and adult women like me – point and laugh! 

Secondly, this is a source of national pride.  I just love that they took their boot, figured out how to apply it to a truck body, literally, and then Honey, I blew up the boot.  They were able to make the car run, with working lights and windows and doors and seat belts and everything.  As homo sapiens in America, we have evolved so far from hunting and gathering that we have leisure time and money to burn enough that someone said, “create it!” and some mobile-smiths said, “Yes, we will!”  That took some real creativity and know-how, and never let us say America is not up to the challenge!  No other cultures really do this…I can’t picture a giant kim chee-mobile in Korea, for instance.  Only in America.

Here’s a link to the website where they show a little film on how they made it (they actually scanned in a boot, of course):  https://100.llbean.com/2012/01/introducing-the-l-l-bean-bootmobile

Thirdly, it draws you in like road kill, you can’t help but look.  Your eyes say they can’t believe themselves, “Can it be, a giant duck boot driving down the street, or did my Ambien produce yet another unknown side effect?” 



A 1952 Weinermobile,
photo by Mrmiscellaeous, 2005



Of course, the Oscar Meyer folks can cry, “Fowl!” or “Where’s the beef?” because they were the first to make a hot dog-in-bun mobile.  The Weinermobile actually turned 75 in 2011.  Kraft (the parent company) has a fleet of six 27-foot long Weinermobiles, a 15-foot minimobile, and a 30-food Weinermobile Food Truck that actually served beef wieners on its tour last year.  You can see one on display at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich., where you can also enjoy a weiner at the Weinermobile Café.

But why stop here?   I’d love to see, for instance, a parade of uniquely American food stuffs – al beit not very aerodynamic ones, come to think of it -- like a Jeno Pizza Roll Mobile, a Velveeta CheeseMobile, a SpamMobile and a HersheyBarMobile.  The Frito Lay folks could have a whole variety of ChipMobiles, DoritoMobile, FritoMobile, TostitoMobile…but not LaysMobile, sorry. 

While the Weinermobile probably was designed to dazzle children, I love that button-down-collared adult corporate L.L. Bean loosened up enough to have fun with a BootMobile. 

Years ago in Seattle, there was a Toe Truck.  It was a tow truck, of course, but it was decked out like a big toe on the hood.  Occasionally you’d see it going up and down the hills of Seattle, on its way to rescue some defunct car.

I never lived in Seattle (but would love to), only visited, and it was amazing how many times I saw this truck. 

It’s amazing, too, how many times I saw the negative advertising in Marquette, Mich., on a van.  A frustrated owner had spray-painted in yellow on the side, “Lemon (outline drawn of lemon) – shot in 1-1/2 years.”  Years later I did buy a mini van, two in fact.  But neither were of the offending lemon model.  Subliminal messaging may have had its effect.

Happy Centennial to L.L. Bean.  And let L.L. Bean be an inspiration to corporations everywhere who need to be able to laugh at themselves a bit, and have a little more fun – so we can, too. 

Loosen up your two-inch thick laces, folks, and hold on tight for the ride – it ought to be a gas!