
Would eating the Man be cannabalism?
The character got its name during the first international Paris-Amsterdam
-Paris auto race in 1898, when Andre Michelin's Panhard overtook another race car and the driver was overheard shouting, "There goes bibendum!"
Bibendum, better known in the U.S. as the Michelin Man, became a familiar figure in the 1920s as the sale of motorcars soared. Appearing on all kinds of promotional materials and mounted in three-dimensional form on delivery trucks, the Michelin Man personified the inflatable product in a witty way. He enabled the company to give a recognizable face and friendly personality to an otherwise very utilitarian product. Unlike many trademark personalities such as Betty Crocker who gets a "facelift" every few decades to remain current, the Michelin Man still looks surprisingly contemporary, and few would guess from appearances that he is 100 years old.