pkg darlington brazil campain ads_00003701.jpg
Wacky campaign ads rule Brazil's airwaves
01:50 - Source: CNN

Story highlights

Brazilian voters head to the polls on October 5

Candidates are trying to stand out with funny, bizarre campaign ads

Ads features dancers, superheroes and Barack Obama impersonators

CNN  — 

Forget kissing babies, to win office in Brazil you may have to leap a building in a single bound.

Latin America’s largest economy will head to the ballot on October 5. Voting is compulsory for Brazilians, so with dozens of local and federal congressional seats in the offing, candidates rely on the exciting and the occasionally bizarre to attract attention.

That’s especially true on the small screen.

One candidate dressed as Wonder Woman to woo voters. Another created his own superhero: a laser-beam shooting anti-communist. He takes to the skies flying from communist project to communist project, obliterating them with a laser-focused glance.

Others have taken the more obvious comedy route. A congressman known by his stage name, Tiririca, has a video where he appears in a wig alongside dancers that wouldn’t be out of place at a Miley Cyrus show. In another video he makes a bathroom joke involving a politicians “main role” and a roll of toilet paper. But perhaps he is just sticking with what works. He is forecast to keep his job, no matter how unsavory its role.

But some Brazilians don’t share this sense of humor. One voter blames the proliferation of the humorous ads on “low education levels” and voters who think “elections are just a joke.”

Another pointed to a serious problem, saying that voters think “everyone is corrupt so they vote for some guy because he’s funny.”

And it’s not just superheroes and a clown filling up the legally mandated free air time. There’s a Jesus, a few Barack Obamas and even a couple bin Ladens.