Brazil: Brewery Faces $2.7M Fine Over “True Black” Ad

Was a beer ad published in Brazilian magazines three years ago creative or racist?  The answer could lead to a multimillion-dollar fine against Japanese brewery Kirin.

Brazil’s Ministry of Justice opened legal proceedings against Kirin regarding a print ad with an illustration of a scantily clad dark-skinned woman wearing a dress and in a sensual pose.  The tagline of the ad for the dark-colored Devassa Tropical Lager beer reads, “A true black can be recognized by her body.  A highly fermented dark ale.  Creamy with an aroma of roasted malt.”

The Ministry of Justice concluded that the ad is “abusive” because it “equates a black woman with a consumer object.”  As a result, a $2.7 million fine could be made against Kirin based on a complaint that was made in 2011 by the consumer protection agency for Espiritu Santo state.

“The Code of Consumer Protection protects consumers from abusive advertising,” said Amaury Oliva, director of the Department of Consumer Protection and Defense (DPDC) of the Ministry of Justice.  “Advertising is indicative of business ethics. Freedom of initiative can not hurt the rights of the consumer,” he mentioned in a press conference last week.

Oliva added that other government agencies for women’s rights and racial equality expressed their concern over the ad in question since it “reinforces gender discrimination and racist stereotypes”.

A spokesperson for Brasil Kirin told the local press that the company “does not comment on ongoing legal proceedings. The company conducts its business ethically and with respect to all its stakeholders and consumers.”

The company has until October 14 to file a defense of the ad with the Ministry of Justice.

Paris Too Sexy for Brazilian Beer Drinkers

Here's a fun one to start your week: Paris Hilton in a Brazilian beer commercial that is drawing fire for being demeaning to women. Check it out below:



Playing on the puns of the brand (Devassa means something similar to "bombshell" in Brazilian Portuguese) and the fact that the beer is a "blonde" lager, the slick production ends with the tagline: "She's arrived. Very cold. Right on time. Very blonde."

But the Brazilian government's Secretariat for Womens' Affairs has received several complaints that the spot is sexist and disrespectful to women. A representative tells the Associated Press, "It's an ad that devalues women - in particular, blonde women."

Brazil's self-regulatory ad body, Conar, now has three separate open investigations that will look into whether the ad should be pulled off the air. Conar's code governing beer advertising specifies that "appeals to sensuality won't constitute the principal content of the message" and adds that "advertising models won't be treated as sex objects."

Now, Brazil isn't know for being particularly puritanical. At hand might be a rejection of the particular brand of sexuality that Hilton represents. To me, the ad seems normal enough for a product targeted to a largely male audience.

Those wondering why so much fuss is being made about a beer ad that uses sex to sell its product may bring up that the 7-year-old chosen to represent the Viradouro Samba School during Carnival caused some uproar from children's rights groups but was still allowed to participate without too much fuss.

In other matters of the flesh, it's interesting to recall the laudable way that Brazil in 2005 rejected $40 million in USAID HIV prevention funding because of a Bush-era provision which required that programs also condemn prostitution.

In any event, Devassa, the beer maker, and Mood, the Sao Paulo agency that produced the spot, are surely loving all the attention. I've never been to Brazil, but the number of Brazilian beer brands I can name is now one - Devassa.

Paris' Twitter response: "Are they serious? So ridiculous."

So what do you think? Who's willing to go on record and agree with Paris Hilton?

Online Source: Advertising Age, Guanabee, BBC, Twitter, San Francisco Chronicle
Video Source: YouTube

Daily Headlines: July 17, 2008

* Venezuela: On Wednesday we asked if a Barack “Obama presidency could hurt Venezuela’s (Hugo) Chavez?” The answer seems to be “yes” according to remarks made yesterday by Chavez.

* Nicaragua: President Daniel Ortega claimed that he would be “fully willing to contribute to the peace process” with Colombian guerillas.

* Mexico: Should domestic brewer Modelo be worried over the recent takeover of its U.S. partner Anheuser-Busch?

* Haiti: Supporters of ex-president Jean Bertrand Aristide rallied in the capital Port-au-Prince on the occasion of his birthday.

Image- TIME

Sources- Guardian UK, The Latin Americanist, Reuters UK, Al Jazeera English, MSNBC

Daily Headlines: January 7, 2008

* Congrats to Elsa Murano; on Thursday, she became the first female and Hispanic president of Texas A&M University.

* Coming soon to the Canadian market: Mexico’s Corona beer.

* South Korean auto giant Hyundai is looking at Brazil for the site of its first South American factory.

* El Salvador will continue being the only Latin American country to send troops into combat in Iraq.

* Follow-up: In December, Colombia’s newest tourist attraction was launched – a theme park at the former estate of dead drug capo Pablo Escobar. Not to be outdone, Bogotá opened a “museum of laziness” last week.

Sources- The Latin Americanist, Independent Online, BBC News, AHN, Canadian Press, Houston Chronicle,

Image- Texas A&M University

Mexican impresario “Can’t get enough of that wonderful Duff”

A Mexican entrepreneur that trademarked and sold Duff Beer in Mexico plans to expand into South America. Since 2006, Rodrigo Contreras Diaz has been producing the beer best known as the preferred booze of Homer Simpson on “The Simpsons.” According to Colombia’s El Tiempo website, Diaz will create a South American subsidiary of his beer enterprise and has made numerous offers for expansion:

(Diaz) is in conversations with Brazilian and Colombian breweries like ImBev and Bavaria to produce and even distribute the beer... “They have yet to respond but have shown interest,” said Diaz. Duff is a premium beer with 5% alcohol that would cost between 1400 and 1700 pesos [ed. between 60 and 80 cents], depending on ether domestic production or importation. – [ed. Personal translation]

Diaz is not afraid of possible legal troubles with the Duff Beer brand though he has not shied away from controversy in the past. In 2005, he published 5000 copies of a book entitled “Achievements of President Vicente Fox”; all the pages of the book were blank.

Sources (Spanish)- El Universal, El Tiempo, LaNacion.com.ar, terra.com

Image- ehui.com

Daily Headlines: October 15, 2007

* A recovering Fidel Castro telephoned into Hugo Chavez’ weekly television show yesterday, and discussed topics like U.S. hegemony and Ché Guevara.

* This has to be the corniest sentence to lead an article: “Move over, Joe Six-Pack. Make way for Josefina Five-Pack.”

* At least 21 miners died in Colombia after a mine collapse, while floods killed 23 people in Haiti and 14 in Costa Rica.

* Will Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva run for a third non-consecutive term in 2014?

* Follow-up: The Argentine rugby team’s Cinderella run in the World Cup fell short after their 37-13 semifinals loss to South Africa.

Sources- The Latin Americanist, Guardian UK, International Herald Tribune, Associated Press, AFP, People’s Daily Online, Bloomberg, Xinhua

Image- BBC News (Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez met during the latter’s visit to Cuba over the weekend)

Daily Headlines: August 1, 2007

* A U.N. report concluded that the lack of potable water is damaging the health of youngsters throughout Latin America, particularly these that are poor and of indigenous or African backgrounds.

* Venezuela's Supreme Court ruled against the publishing of “bloody photos” depicting crime victims in two newspapers.

* Multinational brewer SABMiller sales rose by 13% over the past quarter partly due to more demand in Latin America.

* Workers at Chile’s Codelco copper mine voted to end a strike that has lasted for over a month.

* Follow-up: Human rights group Amnesty International joined calls by Human Rights Watch to investigate possible police abuse during confrontations in Oaxaca, Mexico.

Image- BBC News (Water is delivered via tankers to rural areas of Peru)

Sources- BBC News, International Herald Tribune, Bloomberg, Reuters AlertNet, MSNBC, The Latin Americanist

Saúde!- Brazilian beer tester receives compensation

Alcoholism would seem like an obvious occupational hazard to the job of beer taster. Yet one Brazilian man who held that position won a lawsuit against brewer Ambev after claming that the company did not have adequate health measures to avoid his alcoholism.

The court ordered Ambev to pay $49,000 to the defendant who used to drink over 1.5 liters of beer per day as part of his job.

Though lawyers for Ambev argued that the employee was an alcoholic to begin with, the judge on the case countered with the obvious:

“Judge Jose Felipe Ledur said the company still was negligent because an alcoholic should never have been made a beer taster.”

Image- Ambev (Brahma Bier, distributed by Ambev)

Links- BBC News, International Herald Tribune