Chesty Bond is a long-lived fictional cartoon

Cartoon

A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...

 character and trademark

Trademark

A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by an individual, business organization, or other legal entity to identify that the products or services to consumers with which the trademark appears originate from a unique source, and to distinguish its products or...

 for the Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n clothing company Bonds

Bonds (company)

Bonds Industries Pty Ltd is an Australian manufacturer and importer of men's, women's and children's underwear and clothing, and a subsidiary of Pacific Brands Holdings Pty Ltd. It is a popular mid-range brand within Australia and the United Kingdom...

. Originally created in 1938 as part of a merchandising campaign to sell men's underwear (and the singlet in particular), Chesty Bond is recognised by many Australians as a popular national icon

Icon

An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...

.

By 1940, a Chesty Bond cartoon - drawn by cartoonist Syd Miller - was being featured three times each week in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

's Sun newspaper, eventually running for 20 years. Chesty, with his characteristically powerful jutting jaw and impressive physique, became a superhero

Superhero

A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...

 when he pulled on his trusty Chesty Bond Athletic vest. As a result of the successful campaign, Chesty Bond became the archetypal Australian hero

Hero

A hero , in Greek mythology and folklore, was originally a demigod, their cult being one of the most distinctive features of ancient Greek religion...

 synonymous with Australian masculinity

Masculinity

Masculinity is possessing qualities or characteristics considered typical of or appropriate to a man. The term can be used to describe any human, animal or object that has the quality of being masculine...

 and an icon recognised Australia-wide. Chesty Bond also wears Bonds Boxer shorts, known for their comfortable fit.

In 2009, Pacific Brands, the owner of Bonds, announced seven manufacturing site closures and job cuts totalling 1850 and that the manufacture of all Bonds products will now be in China.

External links

• Chesty Bond - A Great Australian Icon - Bonds information article.
• Nursing the Bond with Chesty - University of Sydney
  University of Sydney
  The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
  
  News article, 6 January 2000