Why Paris Hilton Doesn't Translate In Brazil
Posted by meredith on 03-15-2010Today's Ypulse Youth Advisory Post comes from Brazilian teen Andre Perez on the recent controversy around a local beer ad featuring American export Paris Hilton. If you haven't heard (see AdFreak's coverage), the campaign for Devassa Bem Loura beer was allegedly pulled for being too sexually provocative even by the racy standards of Brazil. Or was it? Below Andre suggests some other cultural factors might have been at play. As always, you can communicate directly with any member of the Ypulse Youth Advisory Board by emailing them at youthadvisoryboard at ypulse.com…or just leave a comment below!
Why Paris Hilton Didn't Translate To Brazil
Brazilian beer commercials can be quite distasteful, but at least they usually make a point of trying to represent the Brazilian lifestyle. Besides trying to highlight Brazilian traits, companies traditionally choose spokepeople with whom the general public can empathize (be it a comedian, a soccer player, the current sex symbol or a popular singer).
So, when Paris Hilton was announced as the spokeswoman for Devassa’s first nationwide campaign, most people raised an eyebrow. The American socialite has absolutely no connection with the Brazilian public: her rich, Beverly Hills airhead persona (even though she’s originally a New Yorker) is not well viewed by people in this country, she’s not relatable or well-liked. Even if the campaign was intended to simply target young, Brazilian guys, she doesn’t fit Brazilian beauty standards (too skinny and too fake). It just seemed wrong to hire such a random figure who has passed her peak as an international celebrity (Editor's Note: see André's earlier post arguing this case) to promote a quintessentially Carioca (from Rio de Janeiro) beer.
The reason the advertising agency thought Paris would be a good fit to be the face of the brand is because the word Devassa can roughly be translated as “naughty girl” (or slut). But it’s still odd to choose a celebrity that isn’t well-liked by the public in general and by guys in particular to be the face of your company. It's even weirder because, even though Paris Hilton isn’t considered attractive by our cultural standards, the advertisement is basically 60 seconds of her flaunting her body and making sexy faces.
When Paris landed in Rio for a quick promotional visit, she was ridiculed by the press and even local celebrities, unhappy with the special treatment she received at the VIP cabin at Rio’s Carnival parade, badmouthed her to reporters. Devassa’s previous owner also made his dissatisfaction public, claiming Paris Hilton had nothing to do with the carefree Carioca image that he originally envisioned for his brand.
In mid-February, the commercial started airing frequently on Brazilian television, but after a few weeks it was pulled off the air. The company claimed the commercial did not conform to Brazilian regulations which states women cannot be treated as overtly sexual objects in TV ads (particularly beer ads which, in the past, were known to be extremely sexist).
Although the commercial wasn’t well received by the general public, the censorship did seem weird: local TV is full of provocative commercials.
Some people thought the whole sequence of events was actually a publicity stunt. After all, Conar, the company that regulates advertisements on Brazilian television (and ordered the commercial to be pulled off), is actually controlled by advertising agencies, not by external authorities.
Besides, soon after Paris Hilton’s 1 minute commercial was pulled off the air, a new 30 seconds ad debuted. In it, Devassa made fun of the censorship and invited viewers to see the “too hot for TV” commercial on the internet (on YouTube, the video has been seen over 1 million times).
All in all, Paris Hilton’s Devassa campaign had mixed results. It did make the brand well known all over the country (and even beyond Brazilian borders since the ruling made international headlines after getting picked up by hundreds of news outlets), which was the point. But, on the other hand, choosing such a tarnished, unrelatable celebrity as the “face” of the company isn’t exactly a good way to make people identify with the Devassa brand. Then again, maybe as the saying goes, any publicity is good publicity.
About André Perez
André is a high school senior in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. When he is not at school or at swimming classes, he likes hanging out with his friends, partying, going to the beach and living life to the fullest. He is completely addicted to his iPhone and loves traveling, especially big cities. He is obsessed with pop culture to the point of knowing what is the highest-rated show in Spain, what the British tabloids are talking about today, what is the number one single in Australia and what is the latest celeb scandal in Japan. He plans on majoring in advertising in college. While not exactly an amazing writer, his interest in pop culture and trends helps him have a good idea on what teens all over the world are interested in and are talking about.
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Categorized under: International, Youth Advisory Board, Youth Marketing
