Osborne bull

Osborne bull sign in the region of Asturias

Logo of the Osborne bull

The Osborne bull (in Spanish: Toro de Osborne) is a 14-metre-high black silhouetted image of a bull in semi-profile, and is regarded as the unofficial national symbol of Spain. The bull was created in 1956 by Manolo Prieto. Nowadays the conservation of the bulls is handled by the family of Félix Tejada.

History

The Osborne sherry company (founded by Thomas Osborne Mann in 1772) erected large images of bulls starting in 1956 to advertise their Brandy de Jerez.^[1] They were in black (with the brand "Veterano" in red on it) advertising boardings located on sites near to major roads throughout Spain. The original image was smaller and in a slightly different design. It got bigger as a law barred publicity within 150 metres of a road.

Later on a new law was passed in 1994, this time prohibiting such advertising, and so the boardings were to be removed. By this time the signs were nationally renowned, so although some campaigners wished them completely removed to fully comply with the intent of the law, public response resulted in the signs being retained, but completely blacked out to remove all reference to the original advertisers. The Court eventually allowed these signs to remain on the grounds that it has become a part of the landscape where it is present and its "aesthetic or cultural significance" thus turning it into a figure of public domain.

The bull nowadays

Brandy de Jerez barrels at Osborne headquarters

There are now only two signs in Spain with the word "Osborne" still written on them. One is at the Jerez de la Frontera airport in the province of Cadiz, and the other is in the nearby town of El Puerto de Santa María, where the Osborne headquarters is found.

Flag of Spain with an Osborne bull

The image of the bull is now displayed in stickers, key rings and the like. Also, in sport events where a Spanish team or individual take part, the bull is embedded by supporters in the Flag of Spain in the manner of a coat of arms.

There are about 90 examples of the Osborne bull advertisements. A few of them are also present, in a slightly different design, in Mexico, where it retains its advertising function.^[2]

The Barcelona bull was vandalized by people who identified themselves as Catalan independentists. Later it was restored by a group of neighbours of Masquefa.^[3] The only Bull in Mallorca is often vandalized due to independentist or other^[4] movements .

Distribution

Number of Bulls per Spanish province

Region	Quantity	Region	Quantity
Andalucía	23	Extremadura	5
Aragón	6	Galicia	5
Asturias	5	Madrid	2
Baleares	1	Melilla	1
Canarias	1	Murcia	0
Castilla-La Mancha	13	Navarra	1
Castilla y León	14	La Rioja	2
Cantabria	0	Comunidad Valenciana	11
Cataluña	0	País Vasco	1
Ceuta	0	TOTAL	91

References

1. ^ El Toro de Osborne: advertising, community, and myth at sciencedirect.com
2. ^ Article in El País commemorating the bull's 50th anniversary, in Spanish
3. ^ Reaparece en el Bruc la silueta del toro (Spanish)
4. ^ El único toro de Osborne de Mallorca lleva 15 días pintado con la bandera gai Bull painted in LGBT rainbow colours

External links

• Spanish national flag with the Osborne bull : Images from Flags of the World.
• Grupo Osborne, the sherry company
• Spain's biggest bullfight: The militant Catalans waging war against the 'Osborne bulls', The Independent, 6 August 2007