Cultural Learnings

Here's another funny Skol beer commercial. The last few seconds are the funniest.



It might seem odd that this commercial would be shown in Brazil - it could be misinterpreted that Brazil couldn't win any other way than cheating. Clearly, if that was the true message, the commercial writers and producers would not be able to show themselves on the streets anywhere in Brazil for fear of reprisals. So, I believe this is an example of a cultural perception bias. Here in the US, we tend to follow rules more strictly than in Brazil, for instance, so we would view this commercials as an outrageous act. But, I believe in Brazil this is probably perceived as a creative way to humiliate the Argentinians (their arch-rivals in soccer - think Yankees/Red Sox times 100).

Believe it or not, this concept of cultural differences towards following rules was a lesson we learned from our Cross-Cultural Trainer before we left for Brazil (more about this in another post). In anthropological terms, it's known as Trompenaars' laws of Universalism vs. Particularism. According to the class, Germans and the Scandinavians tend to be the strictest rule followers; The Chinese, Russians, and certain Latin American cultures tend to be less driven by the means, and more focused on the results. I really enjoyed our CC training class - I find these kinds of differences fascinating, which is probably one reason I enjoyed my time in Brazil so much. I looked forward to discovering these cultural differences or linguistic differences. (Overview article here, more in-depth cultural differences discussion here).

Generalizing here a bit... My perception was that the people in Brazil tended to find creative and unique solutions to problems; solutions which may somewhat push the boundaries of "the rules"; the kind of solutions that once the result was achieved - the rule that was overcome was re-written to match the newly developed solution. The solutions were often based on superior negotiation skills, interpersonal relationships, or just overwhelming personal commitment to finding a way.

In Brazil, they have a word for this: "jeito" (or "jeitinho" diminutive form). Basically, it means finding a way around your problem. Here's an article explaining a little more, although the author tends to focus on illegal activities - this is not what I'm implying about my experience. In my case, I saw this spirit in action at work overcoming challenges or, at times, when my boss's executive assistant would find ways to make things happen for us - like getting certain government paperwork rushed through or dealing with disputes with our cell-phone service provider.

This is an aspect of the culture that really left an impression on me. It's a filter for me now when I'm watching the news, dealing with the crisis of the week at work, or just life in general. I think I'm more apt to try to view a situation from the otherside as a means to finding a win-win solution.

This could also explain why Borat was probably one of the funniest movies I have seen in a long time. See it if you haven't, and you will appreciate cultural differences, even if they are made up.

Cervejas

While in Brazil, I was fortunate enough to sample some of the local brews. Well, "sample" might be understating it. Brazilian beer is good. Really good, in fact. The beer is always served at the perfect beer temperature - just to the point when little ice-crystals start floating around in the glass. Refreshing, crisp, and delicious.

My favorite local bar was "Dekave", just around the corner from our house. I would say about once a month or so, when we had had just about enough of work for the week, a good friend and his wife, and Sweetie and I would head over to Dekave for a few "baldes de cerveja" (Buckets or beer). Picture this...a shiny aluminum bucket, filled with ice; and nestled snugglely in the middle of their ice blanket are 4 or 5 cold, cold beers. The waiter pours the beer into your glass with skill to leave the perfect head on top. Drink. Repeat. The waiters have this style there of instinctively knowing when your glass is about 1/3 empty, and as if on autopilot, come over to top of your glass. By the time this has happened a half a dozen times, you have no idea how many bottles of beer you have consumed. Oh, well. When the bill comes, you'll have some idea, if you can still perform long division at that point. We all had a lot of fun at Dekave, and although I don't remember every night, some of my fondest memories from Brazil are of those good times, just letting the hours drift by with just the right mix of friends, conversation, and beer. Sadly, Dekave closed her doors a few months before we left Brazil, but given our friends had left Brazil as well, it wasn't the same anyways.

The beer we drank was mostly Bohemia. It's one of the most popular beers in Brazil. Brazil doesn't seem to have the limitless variety of micro beers you can find here, but you won't be disappointed by their mass produced varieties. All are much better in my opinion than beers like Budweiser, Miller, or Coors. I would say the lowest on my Brazil list would be akin to an Amstel Light in quality. I'm not a beer classifying expert, but I believe they were all lagers. Also, there is no such thing as a "light" beer in Brazil. "Light" and "Dark" only refer to the color, not calorie count.

My list of favorites:
1. Bohemia - best taste, generally slightly more pricey than the rest, but worth it.
2. Antartica - great taste, seemed to have more of a "kick" than the others.
3. Brahma
4. Skol - at first I didn't like this one, but it grew on me. It's one of the cheaper beers too.
5. Honorable mention: Xingu. Xingu ("Shin-goo") is a dark beer, almost sweet in flavor, it's not one to drink if you plan on drink more than a few in a night, but once in a while it hit the spot.

"Imports" in Brazil are not as popular. You could find imported Budweiser at Wal*Mart, but since I won't touch the stuff here, I couldn't imagine drinking it there. Heineken could also be found, and actually for cheaper than you can in the US (there's apparently a Heineken brewery somewhere in Brazil). There was a German beer, Erdinger , that could be found somewhat widespread in town. It was quite expensive compared to the others, but it was really the only imported beer we drank while there. (Side note, I found this beer today at the local liquor store and bought a 6-pack. Funny that a German beer would be the catalyst for this post about Brazil).

Here are some beer commercials from Brazil. TV in general is quite a bit more revealing than the US (see post on Boa Noite, Brazil), but these are tame and should not offend my more sensitive readers.

These are in Portuguese, so if you don't speak it, you may have some trouble getting the jokes. But, the visuals should be enough to give you the idea. The first two are my favorites.

Basic premise of the first one: This guy goes to eye doctor because everything he sees is square (square used as a metaphor for routine, ordinary, plain). After drinking a Skol beer, he begins to see circles everywhere - it's a miracle! The lovely eye doctor's assistant says "no...not again...he's cured".

In the second one, another guy, hearing about the good fortune of his buddy, tries his luck at the eye doctor's, pretending not to see circles. However, the lovely assistant is on vacation, so a different assistant is on duty. Hilarity ensues. At the end, he says to the lovely model, "Dona Carminha, come back from vacation, for the good of science!" Well, maybe it looses something in translation...

Enjoy.

Soldiers Commercial

I'm doing a little testing here of linking to video. I have some of my own videos I was considering sharing, but I didn't want to publish them to YouTube for the whole world. So, consider this a bit of a test.



But, there is a Brazil tie in here for me. This commercial came out during the '05 Superbowl. The Superbowl is broadcast in Brazil over Spanish ESPN, but without the commericals. Curious about the Superbowl commericals that year, I searched online and found them. This one stood out to me. By then, we had been living in Brazil for about 6 months. When you live outside your country for a while, your native patriotism tends to increase in proportion to the time away. Anyway, this one really hit home for me, and I'll admit, I got "choked up" by it. Somehow, the part when the cooks start clapping really gets me. Even today when I watch it, I always think about sitting in my home office room, in Brazil, watching it for the first time.