Gripping a pole dance bar, sultry gaze, Brazilian pop star Anitta, dressed in ultra-tight bright red tights, calls on her 60 million Instagram followers to vote Lula (on the 3rd page of the post below , it displays number 13, the encrypted code assigned to the candidate on the left for the electronic ballot). In a campaign at loggerheads for Sunday’s election in Brazil, more and more show business stars will have openly displayed on social networks, and on stage, their preference between the two favorites, the left-wing ex-president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (2003-2010) and far-right head of state Jair Bolsonaro.
The list of artists who want Lula to return to power is as long as it is eclectic. We find both pop and funk stars, like Anitta, but also Ludmilla or Luiza Sonza, as well as rappers like Emicida, Daniela Mercury and sacred monsters of Brazilian song, such as Chico Buarque, the faithful ally, Gilberto Gil as well as Caetano Veloso (who supported center-left candidate Ciro Gomes in 2018, and who this time is calling for a meaningful vote for Lula).
On the Bolsonaro side, the famous supporters come mostly from sertanejo, a kind of country music with Brazilian sauce, with huge stars like Gusttavo Lima, unknown abroad, but extremely popular in his country.
“There is a feeling of defiance towards politics. But when a celebrity says they are going to vote for a candidate on the networks, they manage to reach their fans in a more personal way, erasing this feeling of defiance”, told AFP Issaaf Karhawi, a researcher specializing in social networks at the University of São Paulo (USP).
For Paulo César Gomes, historian at the Federal Fluminense University, “the commitment of artists to the left has existed for a long time, especially with those who opposed the military dictatorship”, like the musicians of the tropicalist movement Caetano Veloso or Gilberto Gil, exiled during the years of lead. “But the fact of seeing singers supporting the far right is much more recent. It dates back to the mass protests of 2013, against left-wing president Dilma Rousseff, and the mobilization for her impeachment in 2016”, he specifies.
At a concert in Miami on Friday evening, Gusttavo Lima reaffirmed his support for Bolsonaro, making the sign “II” with his hand, alluding to “22”, the official number of the incumbent president for the October 2 ballot. Jair Bolsonaro posted the video of that moment on stage and thanked “the ambassador” (the nickname of Lima), Saturday on Twitter: “The Ambassador and the people have already decreed it! This Sunday is 22 for Brazil to follow the path of freedom and prosperity! Thank you, Gusttavo Lima!”
– O Embaixador eo povo já decree! Neste domingo, é 2️⃣2️⃣✅ para o Brasil seguir no caminho da liberdade e da prosperidade! Value, @gusttavo_lima ! pic.twitter.com/5C74Lf6JRb
— Jair M. Bolsonaro 2️⃣2️⃣ (@jairbolsonaro) October 1, 2022
Gusttavo Lima, 33, who has more than 44 million Instagram followers, had already declared his support for Jair Bolsonaro and his pro-gun policies during the 2018 campaign, with a video in which he was seen shooting a gun. powerful assault rifle. More recently, during a concert in Brasilia, he launched into a diatribe against the “Communism” embodied according to him by Lula and defended the Bolsonarist values “God, family, country”.
Can this support translate into votes? “It is difficult to measure, but the figures show, for example, that a large number of young people have registered on the electoral lists, after an intense campaign in this direction by renowned artists on the networks”, explains Issaff Karhawi.
Anitta, the first Brazilian singer to reach the top of the Spotify charts, notably said on her networks that she would only pose for photos with fans if they were registered to vote on October 2. A call relayed by the American actor Leonardo Di Caprio, who regularly criticizes President Bolsonaro on social networks, accusing him of destroying the Amazon (without necessarily naming him as in the Instagram post below) and calling on Brazilian youth in April to vote, as does comedian Mark Ruffalo. Criticisms to which the Head of State responds tit for tat, with messages full of irony and written in Englishalthough he only speaks Portuguese.
“Bolsonaro’s campaign feeds on these attacks to galvanize his supporters. The rejection of a hyper-sexualized artist like Anitta can be a good thing for him, to reinforce his position as a defender of traditional mores”, believes Thiago Soares, who coordinates a research group on pop culture at the University of Pernambuco. “Sertanejo singers are aimed at people in rural areas who live off agribusiness, conservative and pro-Bolsonaro strongholds, unlike Anitta or Ludmilla, who represent the culture of the favelas”, poor neighborhoods in large cities.
Pro-Lula artists are still trying to walk on Bolsonarist borders. During her concert at the Rock in Rio mega-festival in mid-September, Ludmilla presented herself with a yellow and green jersey, the colors of Brazil, a symbol that has been appropriated for years by the far-right president’s supporters. . Many celebrities have also joined the campaign in favor of the useful vote to elect Lula in the first round, such as Caetano Veloso, who previously supported Ciro Gomes (center left), credited with 7% of voting intentions.