Michelin Bibendum - Advertising sign - Resin

Michelin Man, promotional item
Resin sculpture of Michelin
new with packaging

Tracked shipping
careful packaging
with foam rubber protection

Michelin man in resin, large size compared to gadgets that were given away with tire purchases
This was included in workshops as a form of advertising

Historical notes:

During participation in the 1894 Universal and Colonial Exhibition in Lyon, 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 beer brewery that had been rejected. It depicted a large human figure holding a beer glass and the Latin motto Nunc est bibendum ("Now is the time to drink"), and André suggested replacing the man with a figure made of tires, similar to the stack seen years earlier; O'Galop thus transformed the original image into what would become Michelin's symbol.

The first manifesto from 1898 depicted him toasting his miserable competitors with the slogan 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 obstacle"). The implication was that Michelin tires would easily overcome road hazards unlike other tires.

Bibendum in modern version, exhibited at a fair in Taipei in 2008.
The company used this type of poster as a base for many years, adding its latest products to 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 form of Bibendum has changed over the years, updating after World War II to align 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 70s and 80s, Bibendum was shown running, and in 1998, on its centennial, a reduced version became the company's new logo. He had given up the cigar and pince-nez many years earlier. The slimming of the logo reflected the smaller, lower-profile tires of modern cars and gave the character a more friendly and affable look.

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