• Academics say use of women to sell football is popular.
After a dire and goalless
first half, the halftime entertainment
in the recent Boa Esporte versus
Caldense Minas Gerais state
championship derby was predictable
enough.
An announcer read scores from
around the grounds. A giant owl
mascot geared up the crowd.
A stream of people bought beers
and ice cream to combat the heat.
And then the big screen showed
glamour shots of a young blonde
eyeing the camera draped in Boa
Esporte’s red and green flag and not
much else.
“Vote for our very own Jali Lemos as
the muse of Minas Gerais football,”
the announcer told the 1,750 fans.
“Go and cast your vote.”
One month after officials condemned
Adidas for selling T-shirts that
“linked Brazil’s image to sexual
appeal”, the practice of using sex to
sell football continues unabashed
ahead of 2014 World Cup.
Not only do football federations host
their own beauty contests, many
teams promote their own
competitions. Some even put
scantily-clad models on the front of
their magazines and websites.
“About 90, 95 percent of people who
watch football are male and so it is
natural to link sex with football,”
said Roberto Naves, web editor at
Brasiliense club with a site featuring
naked models.
What we’re doing isn’t at all forced.
It’s hugely popular. There’s a saying
in Brazil that was coined by a former
coach who said, ‘You don’t change a
winning team’, and we’re abiding by
that.”
No Love lost
Sex and football have long been
comfortable bedfellows in Brazil.
Trophies are sometimes depicted as
feminine objects and famous players
and commentators often refer to the
ball — a feminine noun in the
Portuguese — in loving terms.
“I treated her with as much
tenderness as I treated my wife,”
1958 and 1962 World Cup winner
Didi once famously said. “She needs
to be treated with love.”
The relationship hit a rough patch
last month when Adidas started
selling two T-shirts the Brazilian
government said drew too clear a
link between women and sexual
tourism.
One featured an ‘I love Brazil
message’ with the heart shaped to
look like female buttocks. The other
showed a bikini-clad girl asking,
‘Looking to Score?’.
Both were marketed in the US to
fans heading to Brazil for the World
Cup that will take place in 12 cities
in June and July. The secretary of
women’s affairs slammed the T-
shirts as not just “disrespectful and
offensive” but “a crime against all
humanity”.
Tourism board Embratur said they
“strongly repudiate the sale of
products that link Brazil’s image to
sexual appeal” and asked Adidas to
withdraw the T-shirts from
sale...which it did.
However, authorities have said little
about the regular practice by clubs
and media outlets of portraying
women as sex objects. Fans, at
stadiums, are encouraged to vote for
what they call the ‘Muse of the
Championship’.
“It is a major event, last year there
were more than 500,000 votes,”
Abreu said in an interview. “The idea
came when we sought to associate
ourselves with what appeals to fans.
What do masculine football fans
like? They like women. But we are
respectful.
“That is our reality here in Brazil,”
said Abreu. “There’s a lot of money
all around football and Brazilian
women and it’s hypocritical to
pretend otherwise.”
After a dire and goalless
first half, the halftime entertainment
in the recent Boa Esporte versus
Caldense Minas Gerais state
championship derby was predictable
enough.
An announcer read scores from
around the grounds. A giant owl
mascot geared up the crowd.
A stream of people bought beers
and ice cream to combat the heat.
And then the big screen showed
glamour shots of a young blonde
eyeing the camera draped in Boa
Esporte’s red and green flag and not
much else.
“Vote for our very own Jali Lemos as
the muse of Minas Gerais football,”
the announcer told the 1,750 fans.
“Go and cast your vote.”
One month after officials condemned
Adidas for selling T-shirts that
“linked Brazil’s image to sexual
appeal”, the practice of using sex to
sell football continues unabashed
ahead of 2014 World Cup.
Not only do football federations host
their own beauty contests, many
teams promote their own
competitions. Some even put
scantily-clad models on the front of
their magazines and websites.
“About 90, 95 percent of people who
watch football are male and so it is
natural to link sex with football,”
said Roberto Naves, web editor at
Brasiliense club with a site featuring
naked models.
What we’re doing isn’t at all forced.
It’s hugely popular. There’s a saying
in Brazil that was coined by a former
coach who said, ‘You don’t change a
winning team’, and we’re abiding by
that.”
No Love lost
Sex and football have long been
comfortable bedfellows in Brazil.
Trophies are sometimes depicted as
feminine objects and famous players
and commentators often refer to the
ball — a feminine noun in the
Portuguese — in loving terms.
“I treated her with as much
tenderness as I treated my wife,”
1958 and 1962 World Cup winner
Didi once famously said. “She needs
to be treated with love.”
The relationship hit a rough patch
last month when Adidas started
selling two T-shirts the Brazilian
government said drew too clear a
link between women and sexual
tourism.
One featured an ‘I love Brazil
message’ with the heart shaped to
look like female buttocks. The other
showed a bikini-clad girl asking,
‘Looking to Score?’.
Both were marketed in the US to
fans heading to Brazil for the World
Cup that will take place in 12 cities
in June and July. The secretary of
women’s affairs slammed the T-
shirts as not just “disrespectful and
offensive” but “a crime against all
humanity”.
Tourism board Embratur said they
“strongly repudiate the sale of
products that link Brazil’s image to
sexual appeal” and asked Adidas to
withdraw the T-shirts from
sale...which it did.
However, authorities have said little
about the regular practice by clubs
and media outlets of portraying
women as sex objects. Fans, at
stadiums, are encouraged to vote for
what they call the ‘Muse of the
Championship’.
“It is a major event, last year there
were more than 500,000 votes,”
Abreu said in an interview. “The idea
came when we sought to associate
ourselves with what appeals to fans.
What do masculine football fans
like? They like women. But we are
respectful.
“That is our reality here in Brazil,”
said Abreu. “There’s a lot of money
all around football and Brazilian
women and it’s hypocritical to
pretend otherwise.”
0 comments:
Post a Comment