Rapidinhas

Seven editions in three years of existence have confirmed the São Paulo Morumbi Fashion as the most important display for fashion in Brazil. The latest exhibition held in the Pinacotheque of the Ibirapuera Park from July 4 to July 7 to show the 2000 Spring-Summer collections from the main national labels counted on British supermodel Kate Moss, whose girl-next-door looks and humility made her the toast of the party. But this reinforcement wasn't needed.

White was the color of choice and inspiration was sought in the romanticism and childhood of the '80s. Dresses were of all lengths. When color was needed the favorites were yellow and orange. There were even sunglasses with yellow lenses.

Fashion writers were curious to see what Alexandre Herchcovitch—one of the most respected fashion designers—had to show. They were not disappointed with his complex style and use of transparencies and whites mixed with orange tones. Herchcovitch, who used to be an enfant terrible creating among other eccentricities the pants that let pubic hair show, was back though much better behaved. He seems to have adhered to haute couture.

M. Officer went for the shocking effect and the show-it-as-it-is look by eliminating the dressing room and making its models change clothes on stage, among the hangers that are known as araras (macaws) in the fashion world, making the act of denuding part of the show. The revealing spectacle—with futuristic wardrobe for the models—was a joint effort by stylist Carlos Miele and iconoclast pop artist Nelson Leirner, whose work is representing Brazil in the Venice Biennial, one of the world's most important art expos.

Inspired by erotic British photographer David Hamilton and his nymphets, Ellus present a collection it called "sexy innocence" with lots of worn jeans, white shirts and T-shirts. It was Ellus who hired Kate Moss to model with exclusivity for the company. But Brazilian Renata Maciel shone as brightly as the British model.

The fashion industry in Brazil has come of age. There are 22 companies generating $300 million in businesses a year while creating 1.4 million jobs. Many Brazilian models and designers are also getting international attention, among them designer Ocimar Versolatto who has made a name for himself in Paris. Beverly Hill's Giorgio has signed a $500,000 exclusive contract with Brazilian Fause Haten to sell his clothes in the U.S. Gisele Bündchen and Isabeli Fontana are two of the best-known models overseas. Fontana was chosen by Vogue as a promise for the new century.

Communications

Bip...bip...
bip...bip

For five months the public was subject to a publicity barrage touting the virtues of the privatization of telephone services in Brazil. Famous and pretty faces, catchy jingles and TV spots talked about a new era of free competition and better communications. But when it came time for a first taste of the promised goods it was chaos.

July 3, a Saturday, the day the new long distance service started, only 6.2 million calls from a total of 29.7 million were completed. During the following days the situation got even worse. On Wednesday, President Fernando Henrique Cardoso intervened, giving an ultimatum of three more days for the problems to be fixed, first making sure that this was the time the companies themselves thought was necessary to normalize the situation. Normalize seems like such a strong word. The telephone blackout brought to light a little known fact of the Brazilian communications world: not completing a connection half the time you try is considered normal.

For a whole week, people trying to call long distance became frustrated from having to listen to busy signals, recordings announcing the impossibility of completing the call, and sometimes paying to talk to a person in another city or even another state than whom he intended. The government blamed the new concessionaires while they pointed the finger at each other and at the government.

The private telephone companies knew how risky the switch would be. Not only was there not enough time for all the needed tests, but the firms were also having trouble getting knowledgeable technicians to do the work. Embratel, the state long-distance carrier, which continues to offer its services together with the private firms, is accused of rushing things. Despite holding the monopoly of all long distance, Embratel had to distribute 70 percent of this market to the regional telephone companies and they seemed eager to get out of that deal. The government company also wants to have a lead on its service before January 2002 when competition will be wide open with regional firms being allowed to handle long distance calls to areas outside their concession territory.

For several months residents of São Paulo, where almost half of the country's telephone calls are made, have been fuming at Telefónica, the Spanish conglomerate that took over the system in 1998. The new company was quick in adding two million lines to the five million already in operation in the city to supply a population hungry for telephones, but the addition was accompanied by several problems including constant busy signals, crossed lines and lines that went dead for days.

Their sloppiness resulted in fines. And Telefónica—together with the Rio concessionaire—had to fork out $1.7 million. The federal government is again threatening million dollar fines that might reach as high as $23 million against those responsible for the most recent snafu. These companies are also being pressured through the state and local Procons, consumer protection agencies, to pay damages to their customers who lost business or had other losses due to their inability to make calls soon after the switch.

Embratel has been mentioned as the biggest sinner of them all. Despite all the problems of privatization it's believed that it will democratize telephone in Brazil. It's expected that by the year 2002 there will 33 lines for every 100 Brazilians instead of the 13 that are available today.

Marketing

Soap
Opera

Washing machines were still a novelty and most Brazilians were happy—or didn't know better—with the traditional funny-smelling bar soaps used to wash their clothes when Unilever—an Anglo-Dutch conglomerate—introduced OMO to the country. That was in 1957. Brought from England, clothes detergent OMO was an abbreviation for Old Mother Owl and the packaging itself contained a drawing of such a bird. Since then OMO has become the hands-down favorite laundry detergent in the country representing half of the 400,000 tons of laundry soap produced annually in Brazil.

More than that, Gessy Lever, the Brazilian subsidiary of Unilever, dominates 80% of the laundry detergent market with names like Ala, Minerva, Campeiro, Brilhante, and naturally, OMO. Procter and Gamble comes in second with 12%, selling Bold, Pop, and Ace. The rest of the market is shared by Arisco (3.5%), Sanbra (2.2%) and all the others (3.7%). The overwhelming OMO leadership has endured some competition in the past, but most of the products simply disappeared while others only were able to get some modest space on the supermarket shelves.

Intent on changing this equation Procter and Gamble is gambling heavily that it can compete with Unilever in Brazil and in the neighborhood. (Unilever has over 500 subsidiaries in 90 countries and is one of Europe's largest multinationals selling more than Sony, Nestle, Coca-Cola and also outselling its main competitor American Procter & Gamble.) To be able to do this the Yankee company has launched Ariel simultaneously in Brazil, Argentina, and Chile.

Ariel is already the soap leader in all of Latin America with 35% of the sales in the area. This offensive has renewed Gessy Lever's determination to remain the top-seller in Brazil and the company is increasing its already significant marketing expenses to guarantee that this happens. Procter & Gamble says it will be spending $120 million dollars in marketing to guarantee the success of its product. Five million free samples of the product have already been distributed.

Will the American company succeed? They seem to be ready to spend on marketing at least as much as the competition. They have an annual budget of $30 million for this purpose. In an interview with economy magazine Exame, Antônio Kriegel, Gessy Lever's detergents director, talked about the mood and intentions of his company: "We intend to make them have the biggest losses in the history of Cincinnati," in a reference to the city in which Procter and Gamble is headquartered.

Things don't bode well for 150-year-old P&G. Their ten-year presence in Brazil has been a succession of gross mistakes. It has changed chairmen four times in one decade. They were not able to buy Anakol, which produces Kolynos, the toothpaste leader in Brazil and on the other hand bought Phebo, an upscale but obsolete toilet soap. They also tried unsuccessfully to sell a diaper that was too sophisticated and expensive for the Brazilian market.

Economy

Super
Suds

They don't make deals like that, not in Brazil anyway. The largest beer maker in the country gobbled up the second place creating in the process the third largest beer company in the world in a $4.5 billion deal, the biggest ever in the country. Together they will have 71.6% of the Brazilian beer market, which has provoked shouts of "monopoly" from the public, but mainly from the smaller competitors that have names like Schincariol and Kaiser.

Welcome to globalization Brazilian style. Due to the passion these beers arouse in consumers, the recent announcement that Brahma and Antarctica would share the same board of directors under the name Ambev (American Beverages) led some to compare the acquisition to their favorite soccer team being bought by its main adversary. Both companies are centenary institutions. While Companhia Antarctica Paulista was founded in 1885, by a group of friends from São Paulo, Companhia Cervejaria Brahma was created three years later in Rio by Swiss Joseph Villiger.

Brahma employs 9,700 people, produces 4.3 billion liters of beer yearly, has 28 factories and had $42.2 million of profit in the first quarter of 1999. On the other hand, Antarctica has 6,800 workers, makes 2.1 billion liters of beer a year, has 22 factories and had a profit of $9.95 million in the first quarter. Brahma is already the world's 8th largest beer maker and Antarctica the 15th. Combined they will lose in size only to American Anheuser-Bush and Holland's Heineken.

For decades, Brazilians willing to drink a beer had to answer the question: "Antarctica or Brahma?" More recently the choices increased, but both continued to be overwhelmingly the favorites. Brahma and Antarctica have been engaged in an ad war since the beginning of the century. That fight got louder in the '50s and nastier in recent years. Many celebrities were used to sing the virtues of both sides.

When Brahma launched it Malzbier in 1914 the beverage was presented as "especially recommended to nursing moms." Antarctica started to sell its Guaraná soft drink in 1921, something that was copied by Brahma six years later.

This decade the dispute between Washington Olivetto's W/Brasil ad agency, which had the Antarctica account, and Eduardo Fischer's Fischer, Justus, on the Brahma side made school. The war was never so heated as during the 1994 soccer World Cup in the U.S. when the stadiums were invaded by fans of both beers. Brahma was presented as "Number 1" while Antarctica was "The National Preference." Another rivalry had to do with Carnaval. Brahma has been sponsoring the Carnaval in Rio while Antarctica chose the Salvador (state of Bahia) one.

Thinking
Global

Curiously, the idea to merge the companies came from a man who drinks only mineral water, abstaining completely from beer or soft drink. He is 59-year-old Jorge Paulo Lemann, the chairman of Brahma. Lemann was naturally looking overseas. The international vocation of the new company can be seen in the fact that it was born with three names to fit diverse markets. It will be called Companhia de Bebidas das Américas, in Brazil; Compañía de Bebidas de las Américas in Latin America and American Beverage Company in the United States and the rest of the world.

Brahma had everything going for it. After introducing streamlined and modern concepts of management it had a 30% increase in profits in 1998 while Antarctica suffered a 20% decline. Convincing Antarctica to accept the merger was not easy though. Many had tried unsuccessfully in the past, including American Anheuser-Busch whose best deal was to secure a partnership with the beer company—this arrangement will end now—mainly due to what was seen as arrogance by the Yankees.

Brazilians are not big beer guzzlers. While Germans drink 140 liters of beer per capita a year, and Americans consume 80 liters, Brazilians survive with 50 liters. On another front Brahma and Antarctica are also soft drink producers, each one producing 1.2 millions liters of soda a year. Combined they represent 14.6% of the soft drink market, which is still no serious competition for Coca Cola (46.5%). Pepsi has miserly 4.8% share.

The merger will not happen before the Cade (Conselho Administrativo de Defesa Econômica—Administrative Counsel of Economic Defense) studies the case—it has 120 days to do this—but nobody believes there will be a veto, since President Cardoso has already hailed the merger and encouraged other similar deals. He also will be the one to sign the final authorization.

World's Top Ten Beer Producers in 1998 Production in millions of hectoliters Anheuser-Busch (US) 121.3 Heineken (Holland) 79.1 AmBev (Brazil) 64.0 Miller (US) 52.9 SAB (South Africa) 43.0 Interbrew (Belgium) 36.8 Carlsberg (Denmark) 33.7 Grupo Modelo (Mexico) 30.0 Kirin (Japan) 29.2 Foster's (Australia) 28.7

 

AmBev Earnings: $5.73 billion Actives: $4.5 billion Employees: 17 mil Factories: 50 Production in liters: 8.9 billion

Beer and chopp (as draft beer is called in Brazil) has inspired some of Brazil's greatest composers, who not only imbibed the potion as well as sang about it. While Paulista (from São Paulo) composer Adoniran Barbosa only drank Antarctica, some icons of bossa nova like Tom Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes, and João Gilberto were Brahma guys. Caetano Veloso and Chico Buarque de Hollanda even wrote a famous ditty in which they celebrate the Brazilian way of life and Brahma:

Vai Levando Caetano Veloso and Chico Buarque Mesmo com toda fama Com toda Brahma Com toda cama Com toda lama A gente vai levando A gente vai levando A gente vai levando essa chama Mesmo com todo emblema Todo problema Todo sistema Todo Ipanema A gente vai levando A gente vai levando A gente vai levando essa gema Mesmo com nada feito Com a sala escura Com um nó no peito Com a cara dura Não tem mais jeito A gente não tem cura Mesmo com toda via Com todo dia Com todo ia Quando não ia A gente vai levando A gente vai levando Vai levando Vai levando essa guia

Keep on going Even with all the fame With all the Brahma With all the bed With all the mud We keep on going We keep on going We keep on taking this flame Even with all the emblem All the problem All the system All Ipanema We keep on going We keep on going We keep on taking the gem Even with nothing done With the room dark With a knot in the chest With a straight face There is no way We have no cure Even with all the road With the whole day With all the going When not going We keep on going We keep on going Keep on taking Keep on taking this way

The merger has made some people recall with nostalgia a phrase attributed to Vicente Matheus, the late president of the Corinthians soccer club: "We would like to thank Antarctica for having sent us these little Brahmas." The same phrase wouldn't be funny at all today, just a portrait of a new reality.

 

Obituary

A Proud
Subversive

It was in Cuernavaca, Mexico, the same city that became famous in the beginning of the 20th century for being the center of Emiliano Zapata's uprising for agrarian reform, where Brazilian leftist revolutionary and House Representative Francisco Julião chose to live and ended up dying on July 10, 1999 from a heart attack at age 84 while in the kitchen preparing spaghetti—his favorite dish—for a friend. Accused of subversion, the lawyer and leader of the Peasant Leagues—together with Pernambuco governor Miguel Arraes—was jailed, stripped of his political rights and forced into exile after the 1964 military coup.

He used to defend agrarian reform forcefully arguing that it had to be done "by law or by force." Julião went into exile to Mexico City and stayed there until 1979 when he was amnestied by the military regime. Back to Pernambuco he once again tried unsuccessfully to be elected a representative. His old friends from the left abandoned him and Julião, disappointed, in 1987, once again headed to Mexico.

The Peasant Leagues originated in the little town of Vitória de Santo Antão in the interior of Pernambuco state in 1954. Peasant José Ortêncio, who with 140 other families leased the Engenho Galiléia farm, created with his colleagues the SAPP (Sociedade Agrícola de Plantadores e Pecuaristas de Pernambuco—Agricultural Society of Planters and Cattle Raisers of Pernambuco). Harassed and roughed up by the police they looked for help among their House Representatives. Francisco Julião from the PSB (Partido Socialista Brasileiro—Brazilian Socialist Party) offered his support. He had been elected to the post of deputado federal (House Representative) first in 1950.

The press started calling the new organization led by Julião Peasant League since it looked like a similar movement from the '50s, which had that name. Their main demand in the beginning was merely that peasants got minimum wage and that women were paid the same as men. By 1962 the movement had spread to 13 states under the leadership of Julião. The next year they created the Conferência das Ligas Camponesas do Brasil and had planned a national congress for 1964, but then the military took over in April and the leagues became extinct.

At the time, despite laws on the books assuring their rights to wages, peasants were "hired" through a method called "regime de cambão", in which the landowner acquired the worker for a low price in an auction similar to those used to sell black slaves in the past. The hired hand was then forced to work just for food during ten days.

Julião was writing his memories and kept on writing them until the day before his death. The first volume, which tells how the Peasant League started, is finished and should be published at the end of the year. He had moved to Cuernavaca three years ago where he lived with his Mexican wife Marta, whom he had met soon after going into exile. Both were divorced and had children from their previous marriages. He, six; she, ten.

500 Years

Off
Tune

Tourism minister Rafael Greca, cried when he heard the country duo Chitãozinho & Xororó singing "500 Anos" (500 Years) on the phone. He had asked the successful singer-composers in March to write the official hymn for the celebration of the 500 years of the discovery of Brazil, which will be celebrated in the year 2000. And they were giving him a first taste of the completed work.

Paulo Debétio and Paulinho Rezende wrote the lyrics for "500 Years." The song talks about the wanderings of a cowboy throughout the country's history starting with the arrival of Portuguese Pedro Álvares Cabral to the state of Bahia in 1500 up to the Independence of Brazil in 1822.

The news about the moved minister brought plenty of attention to the tune, most of it, however, negative. Other composers complained about the way the choice was made without using a competition or a commission of notables to pick the winner.

Rio Assemblyman Chico Alencar, who also teaches history and is one of the co-writers of the upcoming multivolume book A Redescoberta do Brasil (Brazil's Rediscovery), criticized what he called the "official and jingoistic" tone of the composition. Talking to Rio's daily O Globo, Tom Jobim's partner, Paulo César Pinheiro, didn't think it was important to get an official song: "From Pixinguinha up to now we have excellent compositions that can be used for the date. I cite for example "Aquarela do Brasil" ("Brazil"), Ari Barroso's masterpiece. Anyway, a competition would have been the best way."

Chitãozinho & Xororó credited the criticism to jealousy from composers who are not as popular as they are and to prejudice against the sertaneja genre of music that they do. "Everyone has his own space," they said. "If the minister invited us it was because he likes our work. This is our merit, something we conquered throughout our career."

500 Anos O meu país é uma arena gigantesca Onde eu bebo água fresca Nas cacimbas do sertão Sou berranteiro andarilho, sou matreiro Sou peão, sou boiadeiro na poeira desse chão E lá se vão 500 anos de galope Não duvide que eu tope Contar tudo que eu já vi No meu cavalo por esse Brasil afora Eu passeio pela história Do Oiapoque ao Chuí Eu vi chegando caravelas do futuro Lá no meu Porto Seguro Quando o sol trazia luz Vi bandeirantes atrás de ouro e diamante Nos lugares mais distantes Da terra de Santa Cruz Andei nos pampas Vi a Guerra dos Farrapos E por um triz eu não escapo No meu ligeiro alazão Vi Tiradentes, vi Antônio Conselheiro Lampião, índio guerreiro Padre Cícero Romão Eu vi Zumbi, nego arisco dos Palmares Feito uma oração De um cavaleiro, escutei um grito forte De independência ou morte À beira de um riachão Eu sou o tempo Fui eu que mudou os ventos Mas já são outros 500 E eu vou cantar noutra canção

500 Years My country is a giant arena Where I drink fresh water In the backlands' cisterns I am a boisterous wanderer, I am cagey I am peon, I am cowboy in the soil's dust There we have 500 years of gallop Don't you doubt that I dare Telling all I have seen On my horse throughout Brazil I walk through history From Oiapoque to Chuí I saw caravelles from the future arriving There in my Porto Seguro When the sun brought light I saw fortune soldiers looking for gold and diamond In faraway places Of the Holy Cross land I walked on the pampas I saw the Ragtag War And I barely escaped On my swift sorrel I saw Tiradentes, I saw Antônio Conselheiro Lampião, warring Indian Father Cícero Romão I saw Zumbi, elusive black from Palmares As a prayer From a knight, I heard a mighty shout Of independence or death On the banks of a brook I am the time I am the one who changed the winds But this is another story And I will sing it in another song

Nation

Poverty
Chic

How much would it cost to eradicate poverty in Brazil? The government was curious to know and a little more than a year ago ordered a study from a consortium of private companies and universities led by the firms Bozz, Allen & Hamilton, Bechtel International, and ABN Amro Bank. The preliminary findings are coming in and according to the surveyors the price tag to wipe out poverty is equivalent to the Brazilian GDP: $800 billion, to be laid out in eight years. Experts from the Budget and Management Ministry have already added, however, that the Brazilian social debt is inestimable. The study also proposes the development (at a cost of $165 billion) of 350 regional projects. But the federal government would cover only 18% of their costs, with the rest coming from states, municipalities and the private sector.

According to the Cardoso administration's Pluriannual Plan, which covers the 2000-2003 period and is being presented in August to Congress, the government intends to spend 12.5% of the GDP in the social area, what would represent roughly $100 billion. The government has established some goals for the next few years including the end of illiteracy by 2003. While on average children in Brazil stay five years in school this should increase to eight years by the year 2007.

At the same time Brazil has been in the middle of a debate around an idea by the president of the Senate Antônio Carlos Magalhães to create a tax to fight poverty. President Fernando Henrique Cardoso himself joined the battle saying that the idea is impractical and that he had presented a similar project to tax large fortunes 10 years ago when he was a senator. To the scorn voiced by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, PT's (Partido dos Trabalhadores—Workers' Party) honor president, who called the senator's proposal a "marketing ploy", Magalhães responded: "He lives off peoples' misery and poverty. I want to eradicate all this."

According to the Prodasen (Centro de Informática e Processamento de Dados do Senado Federal—Information and Data Processing Center of the Federal Senate) there are at least 12 bills dealing with the subject being studied at the moment, some for as long as 10 years.

Down But Up

In another front of poverty, changes in the methodology used by the UN have downgraded Brazil's position in the world's rank of development despite the fact that all the economic and social indexes have improved since 1995 when the previous report was conducted. The just-released index, which classifies countries according to their GDP, education and health, removed Brazil from the company of the developed nations where it was placed last year. Brazil now belongs to the second of the three groups in which the 174 countries analyzed are divided. Based on data from 1997, the country comes in 79th place with a 0.739 HDI (Human Development Index), placing it between Saudi Arabia and Peru. The country is now considered to have medium human development. Brazil occupied 62nd place in the previous report when it had a 0.809 HDI.

From 1995 to 1997 the per capita income adjusted for ability to buy in Brazil has increased from $5,928 to $6,480. During the same period life expectation grew from 66.6 years to 66.9 and the literacy rate increased from 83.3% to 84%.

And, surprise, dispelling the notion that the Brazilian private sector does not invest in social programs, a new study conducted by Ceats/USP (Centro de Estudos em Administração do Terceiro Setor, da Universidade de São Paulo—Center of Studies in Administration from the Third Sector of University of São Paulo) shows that 56% of the companies doing business in the country have social and community programs. The work, however, shows also there is plenty of room for more to be done since 43% of the firms confessed to doing nothing in the social area.

While 61% of the multinationals invest in social work, and 56% of the private domestic companies to the same, only 42% of the public concerns reserved any money for social efforts. Children's' issues are the favorite area in which these resources are used. The Ceats/USP study reveals that 40.29% of all the projects deal with education. In second place comes health, consuming 26.01% of the resources.

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