The Bulls of Osbourne

(LOS TOROS DE OSBORNE)
As you travel the highways in Spain, you´ll likely see the silhouette of a mammoth black bull on the horizon up ahead. Yes, bulls are very big in Spain (as any one that ran an "encierro" (running of the bulls) will confirm, but they are not this big. This is two-dimensional, made of metal and held up by scaffolding. While the bull is Spain's unofficial national symbol, this sign was an roadsign for the Osborne company of El Puerto de Santa María in Andalucia.

The Osborne sherry company erected large images of bulls starting in 1956, in black with the maker's name, as billboards near major roads throughout Spain. The original image was smaller and in a slightly different design. The signs were made larger in reaction to a law than prohibited billboards along main roads (to prevent drivers from being distracted) within 150 meters of a road. There were up to 500 of these signs across Spain.

In 1994, a new law was passed banning all advertising, and so the signs were planned to be removed. At this point, the signs were nationally loved and internationally famous, public response resulted in the signs being retained, but completely blacked out to remove all reference to the original advertisers.

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 Maria, where the Osborne headquarters are found.

There are less than 100 Osborne bulls remaining, usually sited on a low hilltop so as to be clearly silhouetted against the sky.