The power and importance of campaign jingles in Brazil

Political jingles are a common feature of electoral campaigns around the world, but few countries can rival Brazil in the ubiquity, exposure, and importance of these catchy ditties — bigging up candidates for the lowest-ranking municipal offices all the way to the presidency.

Despite being used since the 1920s, the campaign jingles as Brazilians know them today emerged in the 1980s, at the end of the country’s military dictatorship. Amid the process of political opening, candidates from all ends of the political spectrum took to the streets to canvass, often scored by Volkswagen Kombis crawling through city streets blasting out jingles on hard repeat.

That was certainly the case in Marília, the São Paulo city where this reporter was born. 

People young and old can still recite the jingle of former mayor Abelardo Camarinha, who served three terms in the 1980s and 1990s. “Camarinha is good people, Camarinha is a fighter, Hail Mayor Camarinha!” The catchy tune even became a popular playground rhyme among small children.

Political jingles are recognizable for their simple melodies, which serve only for voters to memorize candidates’ names and their electoral codes used on electronic ballot boxes. As Caio Manhanhelli, director of the Brazilian Association of Political Consultants, explains, “a good jingle is a bad song.”

“Brazil is a musical country, with a tradition of listening to music on the street, like during Carnival. It also has a strong radio tradition. Jingles were seen by the people as having that same characteristic,” he says. 

“They are also a tool that easily reaches an audience that is not necessarily illiterate, but has little reading practice and does not...