Spains National emblem; the Spanish Osborne Bull.

Anyone who has driven through Spain will have seen the iconic Osborne Bulls. At over 14 meter high and weighing four tones each, there bulls have become the unofficial emblem of the country, so much so that the black bull can today been seen adoring everything Spanish from national flags at sporting events to tourist souvenirs. This is the story about how a company symbol becomes a National symbol.

The history of the Spanish Bull sign.

In 1956, sherry company Osborne in Costa de la Luz, commissioned an advertising agency to design a logo to promote its best-selling product, Veterano brandy, along the roadsides of Spain. The artist, Manuel Prieto, presented his two-dimensional but striking image to the company the follow year and it was an instant hit. Prieto`s original sketch, scribbled on a scrap of squared, scribbled on a scarp of squared paper is now guarded in the archives of the Osborne bodega in Jerez.

Over 500 Osborne bulls popped-up in eye-catching spots all over Spain, dominating prominent hilltops or monopolizing open country where they were visible for miles around, horns curled against the sky and its masculinity outlined for all to see. Each bull paint and was held in place by more than 1.000 rivets.

From Wood to modern metallic Bull.

Originally made of wood, the bulls were fashioned out of metal from the 1960s and become much loved by motorists who would scour the horizon looking for the next Osborne bull. The bull promoted a Spanish product of world renown during the early decades of Franco’s dictatorship, enthusing an increasingly prosperous and motorized nation, the image perfectly matched Franco’s projected vision of Spain as a thriving, virile and traditional nation.

However, in 1988 the bull was targeted by modernizing socialites who passed a motorway law ordering that they be removed as part of a national wide crackdown on advertising along main highways. Instead of removing the whole structure, Osborne opted to take off the words “Osborne – Sherry & Brandy” which were emblazoned across the creature’s flanks, and paint the beasts black. This was a shrewd move, since the bull was by now so synonymous with Osborne that its product’s wording was no longer required.

Spains national tourist souvenir.

The bull’s fame knew no bounds and Osborne soon became a victim of its own success.
The black bull was soon adorning flags and tourist souvenirs. The company fought fiercely to protect the image at had created taking its abusers to court. The judge ruled against the company, declaring that the Osborne bull was a cultural and artistic heritage of the people of Spain. The controversy refused to die and a new law was passed in 1994 prohibiting all advertising as it constituted a distracting driving hazard. It looked like even the anonymous black bulls would be removed from the national skyline.

By now the signs were nationally renowned and against all expectations, a massive public outcry broke out, fanned enthusiastically by the media and leading to an impassioned “save the bull” campaign. Opinion polls found that 75 per cent of Spaniards thought the bull a typically Spanish artifact that they did not consider to be advertising and that it should stay. The authorities backed down and the Supreme Court ruled that the Osborne bull should stay due to its culture significance.

The last original Osborne Bull.

There are today only 89 examples of the Osborne bull remaining in Spain, because the plots where they was standing on have been exploit and urbanization with complex of new apartments, townhouses and villas, and only two which have the original name of Osborne still written on them; one at Jerez de la Frontera airport in Cadiz and the other in the nearby town of El Puerto de Santa Maria, where the Osborne headquarters are located. The bull-fighting region of Andalucia has the most surviving examples, with 22 being catalogued and protected as historic monuments incl. the hill in Fuengirola, next to the coast road to Cadiz and Jerez.

At any sporting event throughout the world where Spaniards compete, you are likely to see the Spanish flag with a bold black bull in the centre, where the post-Franco coat of arms is usually sited.

Some radical is against the Bull, but the majority of Spanish people love it.

However, it’s all still too Spanish for radical Catalans who stated a campaign against the only Osborne bull situated in their region. The bull of El Bruc was sawn in half in 2003 for being a representation of Spain that is retrograde, fascist, uniformed and uniformed.

This month, one week after it had been replaced, the iconic silhouette was yet again destroyed when Catalonian militants took three hours to saw through its legs and bring the emblem crashing to the ground. But for the rest of Spain, or the world for that matter, the Osborne bull is an image synonymous with Spain itself. It is difficult to imagine that an advertising logo has won and kept such a powerful grip upon the hearts of a nation for more than 50 years, and try as they might the Osborne bull will stand strong against the militants and continue to embody the national spirit of Spain.