O CRAQUE DA BOLA E O MUNDO DOS BENS: FUTEBOL E CONSUMO NA IMAGEM PÚBLICA DE LEÔNIDAS DA SILVA

Abstract

This work analyses the place occupied by Leônidas da Silva in the advertising market of the 1930s and 1940s, when he was at the peak of his career as a football player. We investigate how consumer habits and advertising narratives appropriated soccer in order to expand purchasing conventions and increase the sport’s popularity and entertainment potential. Leonidas was a celebrity during this era and, like other celebrities, he would inaugurate stores, feature in adverts for various brands and lend his name to successful products - such as ‘Cigarro Leônidas’ and ‘Diamante Negro.’ The construction of his media image reveals a model of articulation between sports and consumption that took form in the first half of the twentieth century and continues to permeate the contemporary imagination, transforming outstanding footballers into stars of the ‘world of goods.’

Keywords
Consumption and advertising narratives; fame and celebrity; Leônidas da Silva; Brazilian culture; history of consumption