The Michelin Man has been employed since 1898 and still hasn't retired

His real name is Bibendum. Almost nobody calls him that. Everyone calls him the Michelin Man. He’s made of tires, he’s been around since 1898, and he’s one of the longest-running commercial mascots in history.

The origin story is almost too perfect. In 1894, the Michelin brothers were at an exhibition in Lyon. They saw a stack of tires that, from a distance, looked like it could be a person if you added arms and a head. Edouard Michelin supposedly said, “If it had arms, it would look like a man.” A few years later, the French cartoonist Marius Rossillon turned that observation into a character.

The Early Years Were Wild

The original Bibendum looked nothing like the friendly, clean-white figure we know today. Early posters showed him as a menacing, cigar-smoking figure raising a glass filled with nails and broken glass, a reference to how Michelin tires could handle road hazards. The tagline was “Nunc est bibendum,” Latin for “Now is the time to drink.” The idea was that Michelin tires would “drink up” obstacles.

He was drawn with pince-nez glasses. He looked like a wealthy gentleman who happened to be made of tires. It was sophisticated, a little sinister, and completely effective.

The Long Redesign

Over the next century, Bibendum gradually softened. The cigars disappeared. The glasses went away. The tire rings became smoother and whiter. By the mid-20th century, he’d transformed from a Gilded Age strongman into the approachable, rounded figure people recognize today.

What’s remarkable is that this evolution happened organically. There was no single rebrand moment where Michelin hired an agency to modernize the character. It happened across decades of small adjustments, each one reflecting the era’s visual standards.

Why He’s Lasted

Bibendum has survived for over 125 years because Michelin never abandoned him. When other companies cycled through mascots or retired them in favor of minimal wordmarks, Michelin kept investing. He appears on restaurant guides. He’s a character at motorsport events. He’s an inflatable at tire shops worldwide.

The compound value of that consistency is impossible to replicate. You can’t launch a mascot today and have 125 years of cultural presence tomorrow. But you can decide to start building that history now.