At 69 years old, Jair Messias Bolsonaro has been a paratrooper in the Brazilian Army, a deputy and president of Brazil. And now he has just made his debut as an advertisement man, a clever strategy to make himself present in a new public sphere now that he is disqualified and accused of plotting a coup d’état. “I never imagined recording an advertisement and being made up,” Bolsonaro confesses in one of the videos that show the back room of the recording of the advertisement for Mito, a cologne for men that the leader of the Brazilian extreme right has just launched. The fragrance, which is billed as “an explosion of woody citrus freshness,” is the brainchild of her wife, Michelle, 42, and her makeup artist and partner. On sale since Thursday, it costs 197 reais ($37). And, like everything in Brazil, you can pay in installments.
It is likely that, upon seeing the videos circulating on networks, some among the former president’s followers and detractors have thought that they could be the work of artificial intelligence and as false as those photos of Pope Francis with a very stylish white down jacket, but no. The head of the Bolsonaro clan is on commercial promotion. And politics.
And the issue is not just about aromas, as indicated by the fact that in the videos of the announcement there is a fleeting glimpse, but more than once, of the national flag with the motto with which the former soldier became President: “Brazil above all else.” “God above all.”
The ideologues of the business adventure are the former first lady and Agustín Fernandez, her makeup artist and friend for years. A friendship that both advertise on social networks and that, as she herself admits, has given rise to all kinds of speculation. It is not surprising. She is a fervent evangelical who flirts with politics from the role of a traditional woman. While he describes himself like this: “I am queer, I wear makeup, with a beard, I frequent the evangelical Church and I am a Bolsonarist,” according to what she told him in an interview with Folha de S.Paulo in the last electoral campaign. Fernández, who is about 30 years old, is a Uruguayan who has settled in Brazil for more than a decade. His digital store exclusively sells Bolsonaro’s fragrance, which already has five stars and 3,600 comments.
The most striking thing about the promotional videos is not that the Bolsonaros dress like two stars ready for a Hollywood gala. He, of tuxedo with bow tie; She, with a long and modest royal blue dress. What has been most surprising is that two of the former president’s sons, Senator Flávio, and Deputy Eduardo – the link with Vox, Trump, Milei and the rest of the global network of the populist extreme right – participate in the promotion with their father. and your partner. Absent was his third political son, Councilman Carlos, the family strategist for the networks.
Bolsonaro Sr. makes it clear in the videos that this whole neighborhood mess is not his thing, that he is only collaborating, that the initiative belongs to his wife and her partner. “For me it is a moment of relaxation,” he confesses with a laugh. The far-right has long winked at the female electorate, much more reluctant than the male electorate to his attitudes.
In the promotional campaign, Fernández plays with ambiguity and controversy with a clip in which he seems to invite the former president to dance while the Abba classic plays. Voulez Vous. The makeup artist has accompanied the Bolsonaros on solemn occasions – the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II – and in private, meetings of which their protagonists often leave records on social networks.
The familiarity of the treatment between the makeup artist and the former president is striking given that the former has turned his bearded face and makeup with intense lipstick and false eyelashes into his brand image while the latter cultivates attitudes of a virile macho and traditional man that Furthermore, he reinforces it with openly homophobic and sexist comments.
The launch of Myth, eau de parfum It is one more step in Mrs. Bolsonaro’s business collaboration with Fernández. They both seem aware that anything they do together in the business sphere has much more impact than if they did it separately. A few months ago they launched her perfume, with pink packaging, and a whole line of creams for her skin care.
The Bolsonaro brand still has a popular pull although, since he lost the elections, judicial problems have kept the former president quite busy. The judges have removed him from the elections until 2030 for abuse of power and the police accuse him of leading a plot with several generals to prevent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from governing after winning the elections. These days he is touring the interior of the State of São Paulo collecting donations for the victims of the floods in the south, but according to the views on networks, Internet users are much more interested in the neighborhood. With this initiative he reaches new audiences. And, by the way, he softens his image while his wife cashes in.
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