Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s political allies and marketing advisers are struggling to convince him to run a more conventional re-election campaign, as he seeks to emulate his success with social media in the 2018 vote.
Calls for more attention to TV advertising as well as guidance on topics that should be addressed or avoided in public are usually ignored by the president and even mocked by his inner circle, according to a political ally and people working on his campaign.
Bolsonaro’s reluctance to heed the advice of experienced marketing professionals, coupled with a tendency to constantly rally his radical base, risks alienating key centrist and female voters he desperately needs to win the election. Given his deficit in the polls ahead of October’s election, that unwillingness to listen and moderate his views may burn one of the few bridges he has left to winning a second term.