The Brazil that Brazil wants to be: why the country's image matters (and tourism has everything to do with it)

Text authored by Helena Costa and Mateus Alves, researchers at LETS, published in partnership with Turismo Spot on 05/22/2025.

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Brazil's image matters

Samba, football and carnival. Hearing these words, in this order, we already feel a certain chill of someone who knows he is imprisoned in stereotypes. We need to face that even recent research — such as that of the international consultancy Penta, carried out at the request of Embratur in 2023 — indicates that Brazil continues to be described by stigmas. The simplified portrait that we project to the world is of a beachy, cheerful, natural, festive country — but also distant, difficult, giant, unequal and fetishized.

A relevant study by WPP-BAV Global (2024), carried out with 87 countries, reinforces this diagnosis by pointing out mixed perceptions about Brazil. The research highlights positive and negative attributes, and some that are ambiguous — so they need greater effort to interpret. Brazil appeared strongly as a place of "adventure". But what caught our attention from the day we received the data were the words " Fun " and " sexy ”. Although these ideas can inspire, in some way, the dreamed tropical vacation, they can be harmful in other contexts: in business relationships, in work events, in attracting talent and, worryingly, in the behaviors directed at our women. A public image marked only by entertainment can empty our credibility, as well as perpetuate inequalities.

Place branding and national identity: tourism as a strategic force

In building a robust and multidimensional country brand, author Simon Anholt argues that the most important thing is not what you say about yourself. But, rather, what you offer to the world. This idea makes us change the look from pure and simple communication to the effective deliveries that a Nation offers.

Such an understanding is especially potent in times of an unavoidable democratic reconstruction, a glaring climate emergency, and hyperconnected global networks. We cannot settle for a stagnant image as the only possible narrative. We need, as multiple and diverse Brazilians, to take the reins of these narratives, combine knowledge and identify which are the authentic images (which we purposely use in the plural) that are not so far from what we are (which would be unreal), nor so far from what we want to be (which would be just nostalgia).

Published in March 2025 as a special initiative of the Council for Sustainable Social Economic Development (CDESS) on the occasion of COP30 in Belém — scheduled for November this year — the report "The Brazil that Brazil wants to be" It is the result of the collaborative effort of Brazilian experts in brand, image and reputation. The document proposes responses to a central provocation: how do we want to be perceived in the world and by ourselves? It is based on the principle that reputation is not invented in an office in Brasilia, or in an advertising office in a large capital. In fact, it is built — and that this construction must be guided by values, concrete actions, and active listening to those who point out paths to the society we want to become. It is, above all, what should precede and underpin any action of positioning a country: a strategic anchoring for a true place branding .

The Brazil that Brazil wants to be

The First part of the study presents the views of the foreigners about Brazil . Our country is painted as a "friend for weekends, but not for Mondays", that is, charming, but not reliable for serious business. Despite predominantly positive attributes, since Brazil is, in fact, a cheerful, welcoming and fun country, the perceived image abroad lacks credibility in areas such as innovation, sustainability, human rights and the business environment.

Then, the Second part of the report proposes two image vectors as guides for a Brazil's new positioning in the world when analyzing how Brazilians see their own country: Brazil as Socio-environmental power and Brazil as Key actor in the construction of international dialogues . In other words, a country that presents itself as a climate protagonist; updated and innovative; with identity; influential and internationally respected. These are transversal lines that should permeate the responses we collectively give in public policies, private decisions, territorial strategies and institutional narratives.

In the eyes of Brazilians, the image of the "promise" also emerges, with a friction between the ideas of hope and frustration. A certain fatigue with the idea of being the "country of the future" is revealed. There is a hope that is not realized, but it is not undone. As Brazilians, we live in a constant tension between pride and self-criticism. In this regard, most Brazilians recognize the country's major problems, such as inequality, structural racism, environmental degradation, democratic instability and violence.

Many of these problems, let's be honest, are not in the hands of those who work in Tourism. But Tourism can — and should — provide solutions to these issues, presenting the best (and most challenging) that the country has to share. In this way, the study argues that we break with the "mongrel complex", valuing, promoting and investing in good initiatives and innovations that Brazil already has. This flows into the Third part of the report, which provokes us to shift the image of a predatory and passive country to a Active position : that of protagonist of solutions in the midst of the civilizational crisis we face and strengthen the notion that "we are the country of the present !”

Tourism is a sum

The Brazilian Caio Esteves, specialist in place branding , argues that it all starts with recognizing what is authentic, articulating alliances between brands and going out into the world with this positioning as a guide. Authenticity doesn't mean perfection — it means consistency. But how to maintain coherence in such a contradictory country? We are the country of Hawaii and its cool walk, and also one of the nations that let the most die during the pandemic due to insufficient, inconsequential and disjointed policies.

Facing this will make us get out of the common place and create, in fact, a project for a country with a solid international reputation — one that is achieved not with promises, but with actions that inspire confidence, care and recognition of what we offer to the world. Thus, we cannot fail to do our part. Protecting the dignity of native peoples, riverside dwellers and quilombolas, ensuring universal access to basic sanitation services, fighting racism, valuing our culture and biodiversity, transitioning to the green economy, reducing inequalities are some of the strategic ways for Brazil to consolidate itself as this desired Socio-Bioeconomic-Diplomatic Leadership.

Tourism is one of the catalysts for this turnaround. It is a field of contact, of exchanges, of real experience, of imagination, of belonging. But to exercise this role responsibly, it is also necessary to reinvent itself. That it stops selling Brazil as a promise and starts participating in the construction of a country that recognizes itself and that shows itself to the world not only for what it is — but also for what it decides to become.

Learn more

If you are interested in the study The Brazil that Brazil wants to be , read it in full: https://www.obrasilqueobrasilquerser.com.br/ .