‘Racists Control Veja Magazine’

Posted on December 12, 2006 by Colin Brayton

Racistas controlam a revista Veja: ‘Racists control Veja magazine.’

This is Altamiro Borges of the PCdoB, editor of Debate Syndical magazine, again, who brought you that NMM-translated and -triaged backgrounder on Daslu.

I am fairly trusting of Borges. He generally gets the facts straight and tends to lose me mainly on the vast Hegelian generalizations — “and thus we see the intrinsically predatory nature of the capitalist system!” Which I don’t believe in. The theology of The Market can get pretty absurd, this is undeniable, but there are plenty of examples of small-m markets being the right tool for the job of channeling human energies in productive directions.

But those tend to be like raisins in your oatmeal — easy enough to pick out.

Anyway, let’s run this backgrounder on the allegations against Grupo Abril minority shareholder — which includes a good solid discussion of the current Abril “business ecosystem” — through the open-source NMM BS-detection wetware triage machine.

I take it, by the way — I am totally guessing –that the purpose of the recent court order, in the libel case brough by Band v. Abril, to turn over the Abril and shareholder registries, is to establish whether, in fact, those shareholders really do include persons who acted in support of apartheid.

Or some such fact-based point of dispute.

I have no idea why the antitrust authority is reportedly investigating, but then I do vaguely know that there is crazy tangle of laws here about foreign ownership of the press.

Even Time-Life, which did yeoman service for Marinho of Globo and was hoping for an entry into the market, could not get those laws reversed, not even during the dictatorship, or later, with Magalhães in the Ministry of Communications, which is currently occupied by former Globo talking head and exec Hélio Costas.

Which is something. You need to work damn hard to keep Little Tony Cheap-Shot from getting his way, historically speaking.

But I gather that the order for production of documents is probably a positive sign for the plaintiff, Band Group, because as poor Prof. Sader knows, you cannot always count on a Brazilian judge to allow truth as an affirmative defense against an alleged “crime against honor.”

I like lawsuits that result in publication of documents. It gives me something to write about that I actually can just download off the Internet or grab from the court clerk, instead of actually having to work for it.

So place your bets accordingly. Get yer tutsi-frutsi ice cream.

The article is from 11 Sept. 2006.

Adital – Na sua penúltima edição, a revista Veja estampou na capa a foto de uma mulher negra, título de eleitor na mão e a manchete espalhafatosa: “Ela pode decidir a eleição”. A chamada de capa ainda trazia a maldosa descrição: “Nordestina, 27 anos, educação média, R$ 450 por mês, Gilmara Cerqueira retrata o eleitor que será o fiel da balança em outubro”.

In its last edition but one [16-Aug-06], Veja magazine published a cover photo of a black woman with her voter registration in her hand, with the stupefying headline: “She could decide the election.”

Which she did. –Ed.

The caption contained the following catty description: Gilmara Cerqueira, Northeastern, 27, junior-high education, $450 a month, typifies the voter who will ~~stick with the incumbent~~ zero out [or tip?] the scales in October.”

Which she did, although the more interesting story, I thought, was the Class-C “LAN house” voter, and some erosion around the edges of the PSDB’s hold on Classes A and B. –Ed.

O intuito evidente da capa e da reportagem interna era o de estimular o preconceito de classe contra o presidente Lula, franco favorito nas pesquisas eleitorais entre a população mais carente. A edição não destoava de tantas outras, nas quais esta publicação da Editora Abril assume abertamente o papel de palanque da oposição de direita e destina veneno de nítido conteúdo fascistóide.

The obvious intent of this cover, and the inside story, was to stimulate class prejudice against President Lula

Sorry, Altamiro, it was not that obvious to me, at least not from the cover alone.

Brazil is full of attractive, healthy people — and a lot of unattractive and unhealthy ones, too — who make between one-half and two minimum wages and voted for Lula like gangbusters.

What would you do under the circumstances? It seems legitimate on the face of it to do a cover story like this that belabors the obvious: If you want to win elections, you have to look this lovely, alert-looking product of Brazilian miscegenação in the eye and present a square deal.

Because this woman does have that shrewed look of a fruit-squeezing self-taught Ph.D. in home economics, does she not?

And worse, she is armed with the world’s most terrifying non-violent weapon of mass destruction — a kind of neutron bomb that only destroys non-sustainable political “armed illusions,” in Gaspari’s phrase.

On the upside: She is literate, after all — and there is no Jim Crow literacy test requring you to recite Shakespeare’s sonnets before voting here in Brazil. Count your blessings, friends.

Plus she looks smart enough that, if you got her up to, say, four minimum salaries, she just might be in the market for an affordable home computer for the kids she would dearly like to see get beyond junior high school.

Believe me: Brazilian mothers do want that. Like gangbusters.

Just like your dear old mama, right, scholarship boy?

See also our forthcoming unpublished interview with that nice lady from the Ozarks of Paraná, the one who owns and operates the beauty parlor, the one lá encima by the padaria and next to the butcher who just opened up that wildly successful churrasco spin-off of his basic business — order the pork ribs early, they go fast, and with good reason, but refrigerate and reheat well, unlike the picanha, which must be savored on the spot — who attends to my wife’s, er, bikini lines and other what seem to me to like vanities but which she insists are as fundamental as broadband and flush toilets.

Go figure.

So we need to have a look at the article itself as well.

The devil, if he is there, will be found among the pica type and fashion photography.

Agora, o escritor Renato Pompeu dá novos elementos que apimentam a discussão sobre a linha editorial racista desta revista. No artigo “A Abril e o apartheid”, publicado na revista Caros Amigos que está nas bancas, ele informa que “o grupo de mídia sul-africano Naspers adquiriu 30% do capital acionário da Editora Abril, que detém 54% do mercado brasileiro de revistas e 58% das rendas de anúncios em revistas no país. Para tanto, pagou 422 milhões de dólares. A notícia é de maio e foi publicada nos principais órgãos da mídia grande do Brasil. Mas não foi dada a devida atenção ao fato de a Naspers ter sido um dos esteios do regime do apartheid na África do Sul e ter prosperado com a segregação racial”

Now, writer Renato Pompeu provides new information that sheds light on the racist nature of that cover story. In the article “Abril and Apartheid,” in the current issue of Caros Amigos, he reports that “the South African media group Naspers acquired 30% of the shares in the Editora Abril, which controls 54% of the Brazilian magazine market and 58% of the advertising revenues in Brazil. It paid $422 million. The news is from May and was reported in the principal newspapers here. But what was not given sufficient attention was the fact that Naspers was a pillar of the apartheid regime in South Africa and profited from [forced, using state violence] racial [and economic] segregation.”

Well, okay, let’s pick the factual assertions out of that presentation and leave the semiotics of the Veja story aside for the moment — even if the similarity with Barthes’ reading of the photo of the black soldier in Mythologies might well seem like a natural point of departure for someone more semiotically inclined than I am these days.

A Naspers tem sua origem em 1915, quando surgiu com o nome de Nasionale Pers, um grupo nacionalista africâner (a denominação dos sul-africanos de origem holandesa, também conhecidos como bôeres, que foram derrotados pela Grã-Bretanha na guerra que terminou em 1902). Este agrupamento lançou o jornal diário Die Burger, que até hoje é líder de mercado no país. Durante décadas, o grupo, que passou a editar revistas e livros, esteve estreitamente vinculado ao Partido Nacional, a organização partidária das elites africâneres que legalizou o detestável e criminoso regime do apartheid no pós-Segunda Guerra Mundial.

Naspers was founded in 1915 as Nasionales Pers [“National Fathers”], an Afrikaaners nationalist group [… you know what an Afrikaaner is, right?] The group launched the daily newspaper Die Burger [‘the citizen’], which today leads the South African market. For decades, the group, which moved into magazines and books, was closely tied to the National Party, the party of Afrikaan elites that legalized the detestable and criminal post-WWII apartheid regime.

We skip the adjective-raisins, as always.

Como relata Renato Pompeu, “dos quadros da Naspers saíram os três primeiros-ministros do apartheid”. O primeiro diretor do Die Burger foi D.F. Malan, que comandou o governo da África do Sul de 1948 a 1954 e lançou as bases legais da segregação racial. Já os líderes do Partido Nacional H.F. Verwoerd e P.W. Botha participaram do Conselho de Administração da Naspers. Verwoerd, que quando estudante na Alemanha teve ligações com os nazistas, consolidou o regime do apartheid, a que deu feição definitiva em seu governo, iniciado em 1958. Durante a sua gestão ocorreram o massacre de Sharpeville, a proibição do Congresso Nacional Africano (que hoje governa o país) e a prolongada condenação de Nelson Mandela.

As Pompeu reports, “all three apartheid prime-ministers emerged from Naspers.” The first publisher of Die Burger was D.F. Malan, who headed the government from 1948 to 1954 and laid the legal foundations for apartheid. National Party leaders H.F. Verwoerd and P.W. Botha both sat on the Naspers board of directors. Verwoerd, who had Nazi ties as a student in Germany [but so did the current Pope; sweep details for possible devil infestation], consolidated the apartheid regime,which assumed its definitive during his government, which began in 1958. His administration presided over the Sharpeville massacre, the banning of the African National Congress (which currently governs the country) and the prolonged detention of Nelson Mandela. …

I will finish up in a bit.

Já P. Botha sustentou o apartheid como primeiro-ministro, de 1978 a 1984, e depois como presidente, até 1989. “Ele argumentava, junto ao governo dos Estados Unidos, que o apartheid era necessário para conter o comunismo em Angola e Moçambique, países vizinhos. Reforçou militarmente a África do Sul e pediu a colaboração de Israel para desenvolver a bomba atômica. Ordenou a intervenção de forças especiais sul-africanas na Namíbia e em Angola”. Durante seu longo governo, a resistência negra na África do Sul, que cresceu, adquiriu maior radicalidade e conquistou a solidariedade internacional, foi cruelmente reprimida – como tão bem retrata o filme “Um grito de liberdade”, do diretor inglês Richard Attenborough (1987).

Botha maintained apartheid, first as prime minister, from 1978 to 1984, and then as president, until 1989. “He argued to the U.S. government that apartheid was necessary for containing Communism in Angola and Mozambique, two neighboring [Portuguese-speaking, nota bene] nations. He reinforced South Africa militarily and requested Israeli assistance in developing nuclear weapons. He ordered the intervention by South African special forces in Namibia and Angola”. During his long term in power, the black resistence, which had grown more radical and was beginning to receive international support, was cruelly repressed — as so well portrayed in the film “Cry Freedom,” by English director Richard Attenborough (1987).

Os tentáculos do apartheid

The tentacles of apartheid.

Renato Pompeu não perdoa a papel nefasto da Naspers. “Com a ajuda dos governos do apartheid, dos quais suas publicação foram porta-vozes oficiosos, ela evoluiu para se tornar o maior conglomerado da mídia imprensa e eletrônica da África, onde atua em dezenas de países, tendo estendido também as suas atividades para nações como Hungria, Grécia, Índia, China e, agora, para o Brasil. Em setembro de 1997, um total de 127 jornalistas da Naspers pediu desculpas em público pela sua atuação durante o apartheid, em documento dirigido à Comissão da Verdade e da Reconciliação, encabeçada pelo arcebispo Desmond Tutu. Mas se tratava de empregados, embora alguns tivessem cargos de direção de jornais e revistas. A própria Naspers, entretanto, jamais pediu perdão por suas ligações com o apartheid”.

Pompeu is unsparing in his account of Naspers’ unconscionable role in these developments. “With the support of the apartheid governments, of which its publications served as official spokespersons, it evolved and grew into the largest print and electronic media corporation in Africa, where it operates in 11 countries, also having extended its operations to nations like Hungary, Greece, India, China and, now, Brazil. In September 1997, 127 Naspers journalists publicly apologized for their actions during apartheid, in a document addressed to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission headed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. But they were merely employees, although some held management jobs at the newspapers and magazines. Naspers itself, however, has never apologized for its role in the apartheid regime.”

Segundo documentos divulgados pela própria Naspers, em 31 de dezembro de 2005, a Editora Abril tinha uma dívida liquida de aproximadamente US$ 500 milhões, com a família Civita detendo 86,2% das ações e o grupo estadunidense Capital International, 13,8%. A Naspers adquiriu em maio último todas as ações da empresa ianque, por US$ 177 milhões, mais US$ 86 milhões em ações da família Civita e outros US$ 159 milhões em papéis lançados pela Abril. “Com isso, a Naspers ficou com 30% do capital. O dinheiro injetado, segundo ela, serviria para pagar a maior parte das dividas da editora”. Isto comprova que o poder deste conglomerado, que cresceu com a segregação racial, é hoje enorme e assustador na mídia brasileira.

According to documents from Naspers itself, Editoral Abril had liquid debt of some US$ 500 million on 31 Dec. 2005, with the Civita family controlling 86.2% of the shares, the U.S. firm Capital International controlling 13,8%. Naspers acquired the U.S. firm’s shares in May forUS$ 177 million, plus US$ 86 million in shares from the Civitas and another US$ 159 million in Abril paper. “With that, Naspers now controlled 30% of the capital. The injection of cash, it said, would be enough to pay down most of the publisher’s debts”. Thus, this conglomerate, whose growth paralleled the history of racial segration, wields a considerable and alarming degree of influence over Brazilian media.

Well, it is a signficant majority stake in a market-leading news and information vendor. What one would want to do is look into the firm’s track record with respect to the responsible use of the power of the press. Has anyone produced a “Beyond Citizen Kane” about their alleged journalistic malpractices, for instance?

Os interesses alienígenas

Outside interests.

Mas as relações alienígenas da revista Veja não são recentes nem se dão apenas com os racistas da África do Sul. Até recentemente, ela sofria forte influência na sua linha editorial das corporações dos EUA. A Capital International, terceiro maior grupo gestor de fundos de investimentos desta potência imperialista, tinha dois prepostos no Conselho de Administração do Grupo Abril – Willian Parker e Guilherme Lins. Em julho de 2004, esta agência de especulação financeira havia adquirido 13,8% das ações da Abril, numa operação viabilizada por uma emenda constitucional sancionada por FHC em 2002.

But Veja’s links to outside interests are nothing new, and are not confined to ties with South African racists. Until recently, its editorial line was powerfully influenced by U.S. corporation. Capital International, the third-largest investment fund group in the running-dog imperialist power [just in case you forgot Borges was a PCdoB man! –Ed.] had two seats on the Abril board, filled by Willian [sic] Parker and Guilherme Lins. In July 2004, this agent of foreign speculators [more cliché mudslinging at good, honest, hard-working private equity investors, tsk tsk] acquired 13.8% of a Abril, a transaction made possible by a constitutional amendment pushed through by Cardoso in 2002.

Puta sacanagem, that amendment, many will tell you.

A Editora Abril também têm vínculos com a Cisneros Group, holding controlada por Gustavo Cisneros, um dos principais mentores do frustrado golpe midiático contra o presidente Hugo Chávez, em abril de 2002. O inimigo declarado do líder venezuelano é proprietário de um império que congrega 75 empresas no setor da mídia, espalhadas pela América do Sul, EUA, Canadá, Espanha e Portugal. Segundo Gustavo Barreto, pesquisador da UFRJ, as primeiras parcerias da Abril com Cisneros datam de 1995 em torno das transmissões via satélites. O grupo também é sócio da DirecTV, que já teve presença acionária da Abril. Desde 2000, os dois grupos se tornaram sócios na empresa resultante da fusão entre AOL e Time Warner.

Abril also has ties with the Cisneros Group, a holding company controlled by one of the principal authors in the thwarted media coup against Hugo Chávez in April 2002. A declared enemy of the Venezuelan leader, he controls an empire of 75 media firms scattered throughout South America, the U.S., Canada, Spain and Portugal. According to Gustavo Barreto, a researcher at the Federal Univ. of Rio de Janeiro, Abril’s first partnerships with Cisneros data to 1995 and deal with satellite broadcasting. The group also partners with DirecTV, which once owned shares in Abril. Since 2000, both groups have been partners in the merged AOL-Time Warner.

Ainda segundo Gustavo Barreto, “a Editora Abril possui relações com instituições financeiras como o Banco Safra e a norte-americana JP Morgan – a mesma que calcula o chamado ‘risco-país’, índice que designa o risco que os investidores correm quando investem no Brasil. Em outras palavras, ela expressa a percepção do investidor estrangeiro sobre a capacidade deste país ‘honrar’ os seus compromissos. Estas e outras instituições financeiras de peso são os debenturistas – detentores das debêntures (títulos da dívida) – da Editora Abril e de seu principal produto jornalístico. Em suma, responsáveis pela reestruturação da editora que publica a revista com linha editorial fortemente pró-mercado e anti-movimentos sociais”.

I believe that Cisneros also has ties, through Mexican probity paragon Televisa, to NEWS Corp. and Globo. Which means hail, hail, the gang’s all here. Am I wrong?

Again according to Barreto, Abril maintains business relationships with such financial institutions as Banco Safra and JP Morgan [Chase] in the U.S. – the same that calculates Brazil’s so-called ‘ sovereign risk’ index, which [purports to] reflect[s] the risk to foreign investors . In other words, it expresses the perceptions of foreign investors on whether Brazil can and will “honor” its obligations. [“Never in the history of the Republic has the sovereign risk been lower,” gloats Candidate Lula, in one of those yada yada campaign moments, repeated ad nauseam. But it’s also true, as I believe.] These and other heavyweight hold the debt paper on Abril and its flagship news publication. In short, these are the people responsible for restructuring Abril news operations that betray a powerful bias toward the “free market” and against Brazilian social movements.

Have the Yankee investors really come to eat our babies? I mean, I knock elbows with the young turks of Goldman and JPMC all the time at that great little pasta joint on Pearl St, near the old Nasdaq building, and the James Joyce-themed Irish pub just down the block, in the shadow of the old Goldman Death-Star building, with its see-through sidewalks allowing you a glimpse of the old Knickerbocker city underneath.

Can it be? We gringos are not really all monsters of predatory capitalism, are we?

We promise to behave ourselves.

Right, boys?

Hell, we are signatories to the UN corporate social responsibility compact. How do you like them apples? Nobody questions the integrity or efficacy of the UN, right?

Um ninho de tucanos

A nest of toucans

Além de ser controlada por grupos estrangeiros, a Veja mantém relações estreitas com o PSDB, que é o núcleo orgânico do capital rentista, e com o PFL, que representa a velha oligarquia conservadora. Emílio Carazzai, por exemplo, que hoje exerce a função de vice-presidente de Finanças do Grupo Abril, foi presidente da Caixa Econômica Federal no governo FHC. Outra tucana influente na família Civita, dona do Grupo Abril, é Claudia Costin, ministra de FHC responsável pela demissão de servidores públicos, ex-secretária de Cultura no governo de Geraldo Alckmin e atual vice-presidente da Fundação Victor Civita.

Besides maintaining close ties with foreign capital, Abril is also cozy with the PSDB, the organic nucleus of rentier capitalism [Your Gramsci is showing, Altamiro!] and the PFL, which represents the old-guard conservative oligarchy. Emílio Carazzai, for example, the current VP Finance for the Grupo Abril, was president of the [scandal-plagued, ahem — Ed.] Caixa Econômica Federal during the Cardoso administration. Another influential Toucan in the Civita tribe is Claudia Costin, the Cardoso minister responsible for firing public employee, former state culture minister in the São Paulo of Geraldo Alckmin and current VP of the Victor Civitá Foundation.

Não é para menos que a Editora Abril sempre privilegiou os políticos tucanos. Afora os possíveis apoios “não contabilizados”, que só uma rigorosa auditoria da Justiça Eleitoral poderia provar, nas eleições de 2002, ela doou R$ 50,7 mil a dois candidatos do PSDB. O deputado federal Alberto Goldman, hoje um vestal da ética, recebeu R$ 34,9 mil da influente família; já o deputado Aloysio Nunes, ex-ministro de FHC, foi agraciado com R$ 15,8 mil. Ela também depositou R$ 303 mil na conta da DNA Propaganda, a famosa empresa de Marcos Valério que inaugurou um ilícito esquema de financiamento eleitoral para Eduardo Azeredo, ex-presidente do PSDB. Estes e outros “segredinhos” da Editora Abril ajudam a entender a linha editorial racista da revista Veja e a sua postura de opositora radical do governo Lula.

It is not for nothing that Abril has always served as a mouthpiece for Toucan public policy, either. It’s alleged “off the books” campaign donations in the 2002 elections aside — only a rigorous audit by the election authorities can establish the facts of that matter — it also donated R$50,7000 to two PSDB candidates. Federal deputy Alberto Goldman, a vestal virgin of ethical probity nowadays, got R$ 34,900 from the influential clan, while Aloysio Nunes, a fomer FHC cabinet minister, was favored with R$ 15,800. Abril also deposited R$ 303,000 in an accountat at DNA Propaganda, the infamous agency led by Marcos Valério [Sousa] that founded a political slush-fund pipeline for the benefit of Eduardo Azeredo, former PSDB president. These and other “dirty little secrets” of the Editora Abril help us to understand its racist editorial line and its radical opposition to the Lula government.

The other shoe has yet to officially bash anyone in the head in the Azeredo caixa dois matter, but we are keeping an eye on that story ourselves.

The John Madden Post-Fact Gathering Expedition Wrap-Up Show, Here on FOX Sports

In the meantime, the NMM’s free advice is to try to avoid doing any dirty deals with crooks arrogant enough to think that they cannot be held to account. Look into their beady little eyes and ask yourself, “Is this slimy little piece of shit really the criminal mastermind he cracks himself up to be?”

Because, myths of the evil running-dog capitalist genius aside — which actually do become more plausible to fans of the Sci-Fi channel (and Brazilian audiences seem to really love alien abduction narratives, you might be surprised to know) to the degree that more and more rocket science enters in to modern tech-driven finance, by the way — these people often turn out to be complete freaking bozos.

That goes for the aloprados of Operation Tabajara, too, by the way — one of whom, we delight in repeating ad nauseam, was head of risk management at the Banco do Brazil — lest you suspect that the hidden hand behind NMM-Tabajara We The Multimedia LLC (Delaware) has a dog in this fight.

Know thy ~~fixer~~ proactive risk manager.

Find out how much he would take to peddle your ass to the insurgency, then make a better offer, with benefits. College tuition subsidies at an Ivy League of the employee’s choice would be a nice gesture.

Another selling point: “Hey, at least we do not kill off as many local freelance camera operators as Reuters does.”

To the forensics desk, now, for this analysis: the link Altamiro is going for, between the alleged racism of the cover story and all these institutional relationships, it seems to me, remains a bit tenuous and vague.

[UPDATE, October 2007: After further study, I am more convinced by the argument, I should say. “The MST in an Interahamwe of mud people who want to barbecue and consume your forcibly aborted white Catholic babies” does seem to be a fair description of Veja‘s general message over time.]

It is basically an argument about interpretation — albeit one that has the virtue of being oriented toward, and promising a tie-back to, hard facts. I do think following that trem of thought requires us to actually read the article, though: situate it within the historical journalistic standards & practices of the news organizations, and then come to a conclusion — or not, possibly, but the exercise will do us good in any case.

Which Borges would only be too happy to sit down with us and do, by the way. To a fault. He’s the James Brown of Brazilian radical labor-unionist journalism.

Not an implausible pitch, in short, and well-suited to the preconceptions, valid or not, of its target audience.

But I am both a hard-ass and a lazy bastard in such matters. I also refuse to read Veja magazine. I find it tends to make you stupider.

I prefer to look at it in a more limited light, as a case study in “damage control public relations,” bracketing out whether or not the emerging “Where have you been all my life, Angela Davis? vigiliante consumer here is being fair to the apartheid-supporting South African “savior machine” salesman.

When you have to resort to whining that a critical mass of vigilante consumerdom — for whom the lovely Gilmara makes an excellent fashion plate, IMHO — is unfair to Nazis and the billionaire generalissimos of German-engineered — I refer to Dr. Kissinger of the Harvard faculty — puppet regimes, face it: you have already lost.

Time to cut your losses and renegotiate the freaking social contract.

Otherwise, salsipuedes.

Although, to be honest with you, I was there at the Oakland Coliseum — the Raiders are the Corinthians of Northern California! — for President-elect Nelson Mandela’s first trip to the U.S.

This was long before before Winniegate and all the usual ills that charismatic political horseflesh is heir to when it comes time to actually pick up the garbage on time.

And I have to tell you, nobody even bothered trying to be all even-handed by saying lots of nice things about how benevolent the Botha clan was to its field niggers.

Sometimes a puta sacanagem is a puta sacanagem, whether you are labor or management.

So Naspers needs a “Naspers 2.0” campaign and desperately, I am thinking.

As in “the same commitment to engineering quality, but management is no longer that gang of ‘we were only following orders’ ‘good Nazis’ that our customers generally think not so well of, ignorant bastards that they.”

Remember the famous last words of Brazil’s General Figueiredo about the Brazilian electorate: “Ignorant fucking monkeys, if only they knew how to vote.”

Not a productive approach to public relations.

This seems to have worked very well for VW, for example.

Its Gol — a brilliant and efficient piece of branding, that; you just take off the f, which is cheaper than adding letters, mind you, and you have hit the local cultural reality right in the sweet spot — remains, as I read, the benchmark groovy upward-mobilitymobile in this troço aqui.