Osborne's bull

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Osborne's bull sign in the province of Alicante.

The Osborne's bull is a black silhouetted image of a bull in semi-profile, and is regarded as the unofficial national symbol of Spain. The Osborne sherry company erected large images of bulls, in black with the maker's name, as advertising hoardings on sites near to major roads throughout Spain. After a law was passed in the 1990s prohibiting such advertising, the hoardings were to be removed. By this time the signs were nationally renowned, so although some campaigners wished them completely removed to fully comply with the intent of the law, public response resulted in the signs being retained, but completely blacked out to remove all reference to the original advertisers. The image of the bull also is appeared in stickers, keyrings even the Flag of Spain like coat of arms in sport events where a Spanish team take part. 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 nearly one hundred examples of the Osborne bull advertisements, often sited on a low hilltop so as to be clearly silhouetted against the sky.

The bull was created 50 years ago, in the year of 1956, by Manolo Prieto. Nowadays the conservation of the bulls is handled by the family of Felix Tejada.