Brazil’s TV and radio campaign blitz begins, with Lula and Flávio Bolsonaro set for a nasty fight

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil’s top presidential candidates, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Flávio Bolsonaro, beginning Friday will seek to draw votes through free advertisements on television and radio stations, which continue to play a fundamental role in the campaign despite the rise of social media, experts say.

Even in a heavily online country such as Brazil, ads on the TV and radio continue to set the talk of the town and sway voters, reaching remote corners of the continental-sized country.

With the incumbent Lula — who is seeking a fourth, nonconsecutive term — currently polling neck and neck with Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, his main rival and the eldest son of ex-President Jair Bolsonaro, independent political consultant and former Brazilian minister Thomas Traumann expects the ads to be extremely belligerent.

“I think the campaign will be dirtier than 2022, and 2022 was already one of the dirtiest in Brazilian history,” Traumann said, referencing the last presidential election when Lula defeated former President Jair Bolsonaro, who is currently serving a 27-year sentence for attempting a coup, by the thinnest margin since Brazil’s return to democracy in 1985.

Much like ubiquitous Brazil flags and elaborate street paintings signal World Cup season, campaign ads on the television and radio indicate upcoming elections and put the contest at the forefront of Brazilians’ minds.

Maria Izabel Pecanha, an 84-year-old retired history teacher from Rio de Janeiro, says many voters like her will not pay attention to ads on social media and will instead watch those on the radio and TV as she has done since the 1950s.

“I like to watch them to feel excited, to feel angry, to think of how Brazil’s political actors show themselves. It is always very instructive,” Pecanha said by phone. “I have watched today’s and I will keep doing that until the end of the campaign, it is like watching a bit of history unfold.”

Unlike in the U.S., Brazilian campaign ads are free of cost to parties, and airtime is distributed according to the size of the coalition and representation in the lower house.

The gratuity of ads “defends the democratic principle of equal treatment and means the amount of time each party gets is not going to be determined by the economic power of each party,” said Bruno Pompeu, a communications and advertising professor at the University of Sao Paulo.

Over the years, the tone, style and nature of these spots have evolved. The rise of social media and its more casual language will likely influence campaign ads on the more traditional platforms, said João Ricardo Matta, a business professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation, a think-tank and university.

“They will be less artificial, more natural, with the appearance of something homemade,” said Matta, who also expects funds that were traditionally allocated to the production of TV and radio ads to shift to campaign material on social media.

Ahead of the first round of voting on Oct. 4, broadcasters must reserve 14 minutes a day for nearly 1,000 30-second ads, in addition to blocks lasting 12 minutes and 30 seconds exclusively for presidential candidates.

Of those blocks, Lula and allied parties will get 5 minutes and 31 seconds, while Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro’s party will get 4 minutes and 20 seconds. The remaining time will be divided between two other parties.

That Flávio Bolsonaro will get less time than Lula illustrates that he has struggled to unite major parties behind his candidacy, said Traumann, unlike his father who won in 2018.

In the case of a run-off vote, slated for Oct. 25, the two remaining candidates will get an equal amount of time.

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AP journalist Mauricio Savarese contributed to this report from Sao Paulo.

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