Leaderless since its figurehead was jailed for attempting a coup, Brazil’s far right has found a new nemesis: the flip-flop brand Havaianas, which has been “cancelled” by Jair Bolsonaro’s supporters over a television advert.
The controversy stems from the actor Fernanda Torres – the star of I’m Still Here, the Brazilian film that won an Oscar for best international feature – saying in the ad that she hoped audiences would not start 2026 “on the right foot”, but “with both feet”.
Bolsonaro supporters interpreted the remark as a jab at the right and called for a boycott, echoing actions by Donald Trump’s backers against Bud Light, Keurig machines, Kellogg’s cereals and even Beyoncé.
One of the former president’s sons, Eduardo Bolsonaro – whose mandate was recently revoked after he abandoned his post as a congressman and moved to the US to lobby Trump to retaliate against Brazil over his father’s trial – recorded a video in which he throws a pair of Havaianas into a bin.
“I thought this here was a national symbol,” he said, pointing to the small Brazilian flag that is a trademark of the sandals. “But I was mistaken. They chose as the spokesperson for the sandal someone who is openly left wing.”
Neither Torres nor the brand have commented publicly on the controversy.
“I’ll tell the marketing people [at Havaianas] to get advice from the Budweiser marketing department here in the US, which also lost touch with reality and took a billion-dollar loss,” said the former congressman, referring to the backlash Bud Light faced after running an advert featuring the transgender TikTok star Dylan Mulvaney, before later being “forgiven” by Trump.
The first day of the flip-flop boycott, on Monday, is said to have wiped about £20m off the company’s market value.
On the left, reactions ranged from earnest appeals urging Bolsonaro supporters to donate their sandals, to mockery, including offers to swap the flip-flops for an electronic ankle tag in Brazil’s national colours.
The device has become a running joke since Bolsonaro was caught trying to destroy his own ankle tag with a soldering iron, prompting his transfer from house arrest to a cell where he began serving his sentence after being convicted of masterminding a plot to overturn the result of the 2022 election.
