TV network SBT started a new series of promos with nationalistic undertones on Tuesday (6th) during its commercial breaks.
In one of them, the Brazilian national anthem is heard while the screen shows one of the most famous slogans from the military dictatorship period: "Brazil, love it or leave it."
But that particular promo didn't last more than a few hours, after the complaints from viewers and a backlash in social media. The video was taken off the air a few hours later. But the network kept the rest of the campaign.
"Brazil, love it or leave it" became the trademark of General Emílio Garrastazu Médici administration, from 1969 to 1974, a period that was defined by the so-called Economic Miracle (Milagre Econômico) and by the height of the political repression of the military regime.
According to SBT spokesperson, the choice of using the slogan was a mistake; the promo's producers didn't realize that people mostly associate the sentence with one of the most violent times of the military dictatorship.
The company denied any political connotation for the campaign, and also any association with Jair Bolsonaro's election.
Bolsonaro, a retired military captain, was elected in October by heavily promoting a conservative agenda, filled with praise to the Army and the dictatorship times, and promising to "bring Brazil to what it was 40, 50 years ago."
According to SBT, the campaign intended to bring a positive message of unity and encouragement to the viewers.
Translated by NATASHA MADOV