Bibendum - Bibendum - Michelin - Bibendum

Michelin Man, advertising figure
Michelin resin sculpture
new in box

Tracked shipping
careful packaging
with foam padding

Michelin Man resin figure, larger in size compared to the gadget that was given away with tire purchases
This was provided to workshops as an advertising item

Historical notes:

During their participation in the 1894 Lyon Universal and Colonial Exposition, Édouard and André Michelin noticed a stack of tires that suggested to Édouard the figure of a man without arms. Four years later, in 1898, André met the French cartoonist Marius Rossillon, popularly known as O'Galop, who showed him an image he had created for a Munich brewery that had been rejected. It depicted a large human figure holding a beer mug and the phrase of Horace Nunc est bibendum ("Now is the time to drink"). André suggested replacing the man with a figure made of tires, similar to the pile seen years before; O'Galop thus transformed the original image into what would become Michelin's symbol.

The first manifesto of 1898 depicted him as offering a toast to his miserable competitors with the phrase Nunc est bibendum, holding a glass full of dangerous nails and broken glass, while pronouncing the phrase "C'est à dire: À votre santé. Le pneu Michelin boit l'obstacle" ("That is: to your health. The Michelin tire drinks the obstacles"). The implication was that Michelin tires would easily overcome road hazards, unlike other tires.

Bibendum in modern version, displayed at a trade fair in Taipei in 2008.
The company used this type of poster as a base for many years, adding its latest products on the table in front of the figure. It is not clear when the word "Bibendum" became the name of the character itself. In 1908 Michelin commissioned Curnonsky to draft a newspaper column signed "Bibendum". In the 1920s, "Bibendum" was also the title of a periodical published by the company's Italian subsidiary.[2]

In 1922, Michelin organized a contest to "name the Michelin Tyre Man" in the United States. [3]

The shape of Bibendum changed over the years, updating after World War II to align more with the new advertising needs. O'Galop's logo was based on bicycle tires, wore pince-nez glasses with a cord, and smoked a cigar. In the 1970s and 1980s, Bibendum was shown in motion, and in 1998, on its centenary, a reduced version became the company’s new logo. He had long since given up the cigar and the pince-nez. The slimming of the logo reflected the smaller, low-profile tires of modern cars and gave the character a friendlier, more approachable look.

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