Telenovelas push social issues

During our class discussion and the reading about telenovelas in Latin America, I was interested in the concept of “social merchandising.” The reading discussed that in these telenovelas, many of the plots were based on real social problems that these countries were facing. The idea was, and still is, that telenovelas are so popular that people take the messages, that are being related through the characters and the plot, to heart. In an article that I found on the internet (see link below) it mentions that everyone in these countries watches telenovelas.

“Residents of shacks in frontier towns in Amazonia and high-rise apartments in São Paulo, wealthy matrons and humble maids, children and their grandparents, attorneys and janitors (and even many intellectuals who insist that they despise television) all share a common fascination with the characters and the plot convolutions of hit novellas.”

The creators of these telenovelas strongly believe that this a great way to reach audiences about incredibly important subjects. In the reading, it mentions that in Brazil specifically, many telenovelas’ messages go toward reducing the infant mortality rate. The article I posted below is specifically about the telenovelas in Brazil. It also mention that sometimes they use “social merchandising” even when it isn’t worked into the plot. The example that it gave includes a character seeing a poster on the wall about a particular issue or campaign and stopping in the middle of the telenovela to promote the campaign.

Also, in class, it was mentioned that “social merchandising” may also exist in the United States through an accepted body image. I believe that it shouldn’t be called “social merchandising” because I don’t think that pushing this image on people, both men and women, is intentional necessarily. I think the American society has come to except these images and it isn’t intentionally putting them on display on television. However, I do think that “social merchandising” exists in shows like “Secret Life of an American Teenager” where the message of preventing teenage pregnancy is so obviously being shoved in the viewers’ faces.

In closing, I think American people are so overexposed to media that “social merchandising” isn’t as effective and shows in America don’t have as much power of voice because there are so many that are popular.


The Brazilian Telenovelas Social Merchandising