The Michelin Man, the brand icon of Michelin Tires, was once an overweight, cigar-smoking beer drinker.
The 115-year-old character is one of the world’s oldest trademarks, and also one of its most loved. But early photographs of Bibendum, as the Michelin Man is also called, are nothing short of terrifying.
Edouard noticed a stack of tires at an auto industry show in Lyon, France in 1894 and remarked to André that it looked like a man without arms and legs, according to the corporate history.