Spain

Osborne Bull

The Osborne Bull looms large above the Spanish landscape in strategic spots and is visible for miles around. Originally produced by the Osborne Company, it was designed to promote its Veterano brand of cognac. The bulls began life in 1956, when Osborne commissioned its advertising agency to develop a symbol for its brandy. The result was hundreds of bulls measuring up to 40 feet in height, scattered across the face of Spain and its islands. 

These are not fighting bulls but noble animals that live in the Spanish countryside, which is where they should remain, with the sky behind them, not bothering anyone.  Half a century after the first bull was erected at Puerto de Santa Maria, in the province of Cadiz, 90 Osborne Bulls still survive around the country. This is three quarters of the bulls originally built. The one depicted on this page is at Torreblanca in the province of Malaga.

Sadly the other quarter was destroyed in 1994.  It is in the province of Cadiz, where the bulls originated, where must Osborne Bulls can be seen today.

In the early 1990's the Spanish Government outlawed billboards on national roads.  The bulls were to be demolished. There was a public outcry and it was agreed they could stay if they were painted black.

Unfortunately they did not stay black for long and many of them, such as this one in the Torreblanca district of Fuengirola, are now defaced by graffiti.

Nevertheless they are now protected from the billboard laws  by a Supreme Court ruling in 1997, which declared  the impact of the bulls, "enhances the view rather than encourages consumption."   Oblivious of any controversy or any disputes of intellectual property rights, the bulls have unwittingly become a symbol for the ecological movement and the preservation of Spanish culture.

The surviving bulls are still maintained by the small family Tejada workshop in El Puerto de Santa Maria where they were first built.  Felix Tejada and his children travel all over the country to maintain their creations.  The one at Tarifa needs the most attention because of the fierce winds it has to endure there.  As well as the weather, the iron bulls must endure much vandalism which all makes work for the Tejada family.