Sound of a crowd screaming incomprehensible words. Dozens of people
on the street, carrying flags and banners. In forefront, small groups are
holding banners where is possible to read in order:
1)
I cannot drive a car, but I can
choose who drives my country
2)
You’ll see that your son don’t
flee from ballot box*
3)
We’ll do the best election of
Brazil
4)
With 16 years old you can already vote**
5)
Your vote worth an whole Brazil
6)
#come to ballot box ***
7)
Electoral Justice: tse.jus.br
* Brazilian Anthem says: You’ll see that your son don’t flee from fight
** In Brazil, the vote is mandatory above 18, but voluntary above 16
*** During the 2013 protests, the trend topic in social media was “# come to street"
The advertising campaign, promoted by the Supreme
Electoral Court of Brazil (TSE), seems to remind citizens that time for
changing has finally come. With clear references to the 2013 protests, TSE’s
campaign highlights the elections as the peak of democracy and encourages the
young to vote. At first, this approach seems reasonable, since the campaign
co-relates street’s voice with election’s voice. It takes a while to understand
what this co-option of popular protests by a Governmental institution may
represents.
TSE borrows the language of the
demonstrators and, by doing this, co-relates the 2014 elections with the
Confederations Cup protests. On the one hand, the campaign presents elections as a
time to the citizen pursuit answers to the general dissatisfaction showed
during the last year and emphasizes the importance of choosing the
representatives for the future of the country. On the other hand, the campaign
invites people to replace the streets action (protest) for the ballot box
action (vote). This second feature is the reason why the co-option of popular
protest by TSE is problematic.
Replace the “street”
for the “ballot box” does not make sense, since democracy involves the
capability of citizens to choose their representatives and to pressure
politicians as well. During the elections, the focus on the role of citizen as
a voter is understandable, nevertheless the cross reference used in this
campaign contributes, in certain way, to undermine the importance of social
mobilization in the democratic process. Paul Hilder (2007) alerts that by
borrowing the clothes and tactics of social movements Governments may cause a
confusion “in the public mind about what civil society campaigning actually is
and how it can change collective decisions”.
Therefore, the slogan “# come to ballot box”, that has been used in all
TSE’s communicative actions during this elections, contains an ideological bias
and, in a certain way, neutralizes 2013 protest. Although trying to empower the
citizen through the vote, the campaign trivializes the last year protests and
undermines the role of civil society in democracy.
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| Come to street |
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| You'll see that your son don't flee from fight |
Hilder, P. et al (2007) Contentious citizens - civil society’s role in campaigning for social change. The Young Foundation, pp. 58-61
