Social Merchandising: Human Trafficking in Brazilian Soap Opera

Denise Avancini  Alves; Maria Helena  Weber

doi:10.4236/ajc.2015.34010

Denise Avancini Alves^1,2, Maria Helena Weber²

Abstract: Human trafficking is one of today’s largest shadow economies. This theme was included in plot of Salve Jorge, a soap opera in Brazil (broadcasted by Globo Network between October 2012 and May 2013). This article analyzes the social merchandising, an approach given to international human trafficking in entertainment venues of television, especially, from the telenovela Salve Jorge. The strategy of inclusion of social issues in the plots is recognized as social merchandising. So, it is in this privileged media space that the story of a social problem is also constituted. The study focuses on the discussion of the power of the telenovela to dramatize issues of public interest, having main broadcasting and audience of Salve Jorge. One seeks to question the maintenance and the impact of the subject of human trafficking as a dialogue between fiction and reality portrayed by Brazilian television. The show, Salve Jorge, is based on the real-life story of a Brazilian woman who was led to Israel and forced into prostitution. Therefore, human trafficking emerges as the central theme of this study over the main plot of Salve Jorge.

Keywords: Social Merchandising, Brazilian Soap Opera, Human Trafficking

Cite this paper: Alves, D. and Weber, M. (2015) Social Merchandising: Human Trafficking in Brazilian Soap Opera. Advances in Journalism and Communication, 3, 89-99. doi: 10.4236/ajc.2015.34010.

References

[1] Atencio, R. J. (2014). Memory’s Turn: Reckoning with Dictatorship in Brazil. Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press.

[2] Globo (2005). Commercial Formats Guide (trad. Manual de formatos comerciais). Negócios Globo.

[3] Globo (2013). Website G1.
http://g1.globo.com/rio-de-janeiro/noticia/2013/02/mulher-que-inspirou-morena-de-salve-jorge-conta-o-drama-no-exterior.html

[4] Hamburguer, E. (2011). Telenovelas and Interpretations of Brazil (trad. Telenovelas e Interpretações do Brasil). Lua Nova: Revista de Cultura e Política, São Paulo, N. 82, 61-86,.

[5] La Pastina, A. (1994). Research on Soap Operas in Latin America. (trad. Pesquisa sobre audiência de telenovelas na América Latina). Revisão teórica e metodológica in Revista Brasileira de Comunicação/INTERCOM, XVII, 17-37.

[6] Lopes, M. I. V. (2009). The Soap Opera as a Communicative Resource (trad. A telenovela como recurso comunicativo). MATRIZes, 3, 21-47.

[7] Lopes, M. I. V. (2012). Telenovela and Human Rights: Fiction Narrative as a Communicational Resource. In: A. V. Montie (Ed.), Comunicación y derechos humanos (pp. 175). International Association for Media and Communication Research (Alternatives Collection).

[8] Lopes, M. I. V. (2013). Social Memory and Television Fiction in Ibero-Amercian Countries: Directory Obitel 2013 (trad. Memória social e ficção televisiva em países ibero-americanos: anuário Obitel 2013, Orozco Gomes, G. (Orgs.)). Porto Alegre: Sulina.

[9] Machado, A. (2001) TV Taken Seriously (trad. Televisão levada a sério). São Paulo: Editora Senac.

[10] Marques, A. C., & Maia, R. (2008). Emotional Appeal and Mobilization for Deliberation: The Homoerotic Link in Soap Operas (trad. Apelo emocional e mobilização para a deliberação: o vínculo homoerótico em telenovelas). In: Maia, R. (Org.). Media and Deliberation (trad. Mídia e Deliberação) (pp.380). Rio de Janeiro: Editora FGV.

[11] Pallottini, R. (2000). Telenovelas: The Nices and the Bads (trad. Telenovela: os bons e os maus). In: Intercom-Congresso Brasileiro de Ciências da Comunicação. Manaus: Sociedade Brasileira de Estudos Interdisciplinares da Comunicação.

[12] Porto, M. P. (2007). Television and Politics in Brazil: Globo and Interpretations of the Audience (trad. Televisão e Política no Brasil: a Rede Globo e as interpretações da audiência). Rio de janeiro: E-papers.

[13] Weber, M. H. (2000) Communication and Political Spectacles (trad. Comunicação e espetáculos da política). Porto Alegre: Editora da Universidade, UFRGS.