BRAZIL 2014 WC: Hosts Still Using Sex to Sell Sport Ahead June Kick-Off

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


-Reuters