Brazilian Havaianas flip-flops on sale in a store next to a sign reading 'The passion for the jersey, now on your feet,' in São Paulo, Brazil, November 28, 2022. MIGUEL SCHINCARIOL/AFP
Beret, thick beard or red t-shirt: These visuals used to be enough to identify a revolutionary. But after an advertisement aired on December 18 by the Brazilian brand Havaianas, featuring actress Fernanda Torres – known for her role in the Oscar-winning film I'm Still Here (2024) about the military dictatorship – the Brazilian right has claimed that a new accessory has made its way into the radical left's wardrobe: flip-flops.
In the commercial, Torres, wearing white flip-flops, encourages Brazilians to start 2026 not only "with the right foot" – a local expression meaning to start the year off well – but "with both feet." Through this play on words, the actress motivates people to take charge of their own lives rather than leave things to luck. But not everyone has interpreted the message in the same way. As Brazil prepares for the October presidential election, many close to former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022) have viewed the commercial as a political provocation.
Soon after, Eduardo Bolsonaro, Jair Bolsonaro's son who has been living in the United States since March 2025, called for a boycott of Havaianas flip-flops. On his social media accounts, he even posted a video in which he throws flip-flops into a huge trash bin. "I thought [Havaianas flip-flops] were a national symbol," he said with scorn. "I was wrong: They chose as the spokesmodel of the sandal someone who is openly left wing," criticized the son known as "03," as his father nicknamed him.
