Slogan ‘Union and Reconstruction’ replaced the ‘Beloved Homeland Brazil’, from the Bolsonaro government
Officially unveiled during the inauguration ceremony, on Sunday (1), the visual identity of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government bears the slogan Union and Reconstruction. Visually, the new brand has the colors of the Brazilian flag green, yellow and blue and red and gray.
For the second time in history, the institutional brand of the Federal Government bears the word ‘union’ – the first was with Itamar Franco, who took charge of the country in December 1992, replacing Fernando Collor, who was impeached that year.
However, even though it is the same word ‘union’, the meaning is different, especially if we take into account the political division shown in the results of last year’s polls. Joo Ricardo Matta, MBA professor at FGV-SP, highlighted the word ‘union’, present in the slogan.
The concept of the brand is good, because it deals with national unity, with the broad front that was assembled to defeat the former president. And, at the same time, the issue of reconstruction in the counterpoint sense of saying that what was before was not good, he explained.
Regarding the visual identity, Matta points out that the color shows the social diversity of Brazilians. “However, I don’t like this visual identity, because I think it’s a bit childish”, he said. “Bringing this multicolor to the government’s logo is not a novelty, as they tried to re-read the past, which made it lose visual perception”, completed the expert.
The institutional brand of President Lula’s first and second term, between 2003 and 2010, had ‘Brazil’ written in different colors, over the slogan ‘Um Pas de Todos’. In Dilma Rousseff’s government, first and half of the second, two slogans ‘Pas Rico Pas sem Poverza’ and ‘Educating Homeland’.
In 2016, during Michel Temer’s government, the concept was taken from the Brazilian flag, ‘Ordem e Progresso’. Created by publicist Elsinho Mouco, the logo was blue and white, with a more discreet green and yellow, in addition to having the sphere of the flag in the center and the insertion of the federal government, below Brazil.
In the mandate of the now ex-President Bolsonaro, the motto was ‘Ptria Beloved Brazil’, reproducing an excerpt from the anthem. The brand featured the national flag, which gained new contours see below the brands of governments from Collor to Bolsonaro.
Professor of political marketing at ESPM, Marcelo Vitorino also recalls the brand of the PT’s first governments, as does the expert at FGV. “The last brand he used already had a color mix that included black and red,” he recalled.
“However, at that time we did not live in a moment of so much ideological polarization between conservatives and social democrats. Given the current moment, perhaps a less ideological choice in the composition of colors would be more prudent, but also not something that should be taken as something relevant” , he pondered.
Vitorino believes that the choice of geometric shapes in the composition of the font’s body was made due to the slogan that deals with reconstruction. At this point, for him, it might be the ‘biggest problem’. “Government brands are usually used for periods of four years, and carrying ‘reconstruction’ for that time can be exaggerated, in addition to giving great weight to the protagonism of this management”.
Antidote to polarization?
Mariana Munis, professor of Marketing and Consumer Behavior at Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie, in Campinas (SP), says that the colors of the flag, along with the red and gray that, according to her, symbolize the working class, symbolize the union of the Brazilian people .
“The rounded font conveys proximity, and the more pointed corners, formed by the geometric shapes, convey, at the same time, sobriety and firmness. The geometric shapes of the typography convey the sensation of diversity”, he stated.
‘Union’, one of the words in the slogan, sees a message that is very much repeated during the campaign, highlighted the creative director at Agencia3, Joo Netto. “As for the colors applied, red can cause some people to feel strange, even more so if we look at the political scene, but I also see it as a reference to its last administration, 2003-2010, when the brand had already worked with elements in red,” he said.
For Renato Figueiredo, founder of iAZ Estratgia de Marca, the ‘first resumption’ is the preponderance of the word ‘Brazil’. “There is also a resumption of another order, the reference to the modernist movement, a period of strong influence in the construction of modern Brazil, with the presence of geometric traits and the use of superimposed flat colors”.
