James P. Woodard offers a well-written, detailed study on the history of consumer capitalism in Brazil. The richness of its research, based mostly on primary sources, is to be commended. What the author offers is a compelling book of twentieth-century Brazil with an innovative approach.
The book is divided into six chapters, including an overview of the changes that took place in Brazil during the twentieth century in Chapter 1. The following four chapters are divided chronologically: 1910s-30s, 1930s-40s,1940s-50s, and 1950s-70s, and they focus on major consumer goods and consumer habits that were dominant in those periods, such as the automobile, department stores, supermarkets, and shopping centers—all accompanied by the expansion of newspapers, magazine, radio, TV, and advertising. Chapter 6 looks closely at the most important agents of consumer capitalism as well as at the intellectual criticism and the creative portrayals of the work produced by those agents. There is also a postscript that makes broader links with the present.
The book clearly shows that contrary to what has been assumed, American capitalism was not merely imposed on Brazilians, but in fact, was embraced by the latter. The so-called Americanization of Brazil was “the work of Brazilians more than anyone else” (5). The author illustrates that through the new professionals involved in marketing, retail trade, and media, Brazilians of all classes were affected by consumer capitalism. The United States became the model, and by the 1950s Brazil had become the second-largest recipient of direct American investment in the region, and Brazilians were the Latin Americans who had embraced the most American culture, after Cubans in the prerevolutionary period.
Although the book is not an easy read for the non-academic, the general public can find interesting explanations for the rise of certain aspects of Brazilian culture. Christmas and the arrival of Papai Noel (Santa Claus) by helicopter is a perfect example. The celebration of Christmas in Brazil as Brazilians know it today is a consequence of a publicity campaign from the late 1930s promoting generalized gift-giving. By 1950s, as the author points out, Christmas decorations were widespread and sales of gifts increased—with the help of installment sales (crediário). The growing marketing around Christmas continued, and in 1958 Papai Noel (Santa) arrived in Rio on a Brazilian Air Force helicopter. This was the peak moment of an event that comprised a crowd of 50,000 people—including the mayor, who presented Santa with the key to the city. As Woodard clearly shows, this type of event became even larger afterward, moving eventually to the Maracanã Stadium with all being organized by “the city's retailers and its tourism bureau, in cooperation with the mayor's office” (162). The popularity of Santa could be witnessed in the second half of the twentieth century, when children yelled “Papai Noel!” any time a helicopter was spotted during the holiday season.
Woodard also explains why Brazil's Valentine's day (Dia dos Namorados) is in June, rather than in February. Although it was based on the American day, it could not happen in the same month because February was already taken by carnaval—one of the most important consumer occasions in the country. Moving it to June 12 was justified—not only because it was a slow month in retail commerce—but also because this date is the eve of Saint Anthony's Day, the matchmaker saint. These are just two examples that Woodard uses to illustrate how Brazilian culture was modeled on US consumerism, not by imposition, but by choice, in order to give the country its sought-after ‘world-class’ status.
