Actor and influencer Ricardo Cubba – who plays the character “Menina Mofo”, a teenager who lives comic conflicts with her mother – posted a video sponsored by Ri Happy in which he interviews fellow influencer and singer Luke Vidal.
In the “Let Play” panel, Cubba asks Vidal how he deals with his 8-year-old son’s choices when it comes to play. He replies that parents do not need to choose the games, but leave the child free. “When a child invites you to play, you must include yourself in their world. It is very important that you have this time with your child.”
So far, no big deal: a parent concerned with having fun with their child the way the child wants.
But social networks have not forgiven the fact that Ricardo Cubba, a gay actor, is characterized as Menina Mofo, with makeup, wig and women’s clothes, interviewing Vidal, who is also gay, and presenting him as “a reference of the LGBTQIAP+ community” (acronym for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transvestite, queer, intersex, asexual, pansexual and non-binary identities).
The video, which is just over 1m20s long, at one point puts Vidal saying that “play does not have to have a gender, it has to add to the child’s life”.
On Twitter, Fernanda Mendes, who introduces herself as president of PTB Mulher Municipal in Rio, was one of those who pulled the hashtag #boyicoterihappy. “I won’t go in anymore. My money you won’t have,” she tweeted, in a post with nearly 14,000 views.
On Instagram, where she presents herself with the profile “mamaederight”, she published the video with the message: “It’s an endless absurdity. Leave our children alone!”
THE Sheet contacted Fernanda Mendes, but did not receive a response until the publication of this report. She also sought out the Ri Happy group, which owns the Ri Happy and PB Kids networks, but the company did not comment. Through his press office, he only informed that Ricardo Cubba is one of the influencers hired by the brand and that he has been with the company since April.
Ri Happy deleted the original video from its social networks, but the subject was among the most commented on Twitter this Friday (8). On the company’s Instagram profile, there is a flurry of political criticism. “Victory of the Brazilian people. Never laugh Happy again”, says one user. “It will seal with children there in Cuba, Venezuela or Qatar!” said another on Instagram.
“They’re advertising for those who can’t procreate or don’t want to, those little guys who support abortion. It’s not the kind of family you’re focusing on, that spends money in toy stores”, posted a user.
On Twitter, however, there were those who defended the company’s initiative. “Brazil breaking records of hunger, unemployment, corruption in the government. And the cattle are worried about an advertisement encouraging children to play with whatever they want?”, asked a user. “I would boycott Jair Bolsonaro who made staple foods a luxury item with his genocidal and disastrous policy,” tweeted another.
In the opinion of pedagogue Maria Ângela Barbato Carneiro, PhD in Communication Sciences from USP (University of São Paulo) and professor at PUC-SP (Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo), where she coordinates the Brincar Culture and Research Center, advertising sought to convey the right message, but chose the wrong way.
“If the objective is to talk about free play – which is really something important from a pedagogical point of view, for the child to fully develop and discover the world with their eyes, not with the eyes of adults – why shouldn’t advertising Did you bring children playing? Exercising this free play, with the toys they chose?”, he asks.
“When you bring a man, with a beard and mustache, dressed as a woman, on the one hand you reinforce stereotypes and prejudices. On the other hand, you leave the child confused, because he is not yet mature enough to understand this type of representation”, he says.
For Maria Ângela, it is important that parents teach children to treat those who are different from them with respect. “This is the foundation of a diverse education,” she says, and that extends to anyone who has a different race, color, religion, social class or sexual orientation.
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