The following article analyses some manifestations of the neoliberal discourse in the Brazilian advertising sector - the main defender of big capital interests before the public opinion. Since the 80s, the economic crisis revealed the failures of capitalist modernization in Brazil and its capacity to produce generalized welfare. However, due to the relative democratization of the public space, organized sectors of civil society found channels to express their dissatisfaction with the big enterprises. This process resulted in the works of the Constitution Assembly and the Cruzado Plan, which to some extent threatened those interests. The ‘movement pro free initiative,’ set up by Conar in the 80s, and the discourse of ‘free commercial expression,’ which is the main weapon of the advertising sector against State regulation, mainly in issues such as the selling of alcohol and cigarette, was the answer formulated by the conjoint action of big capital and advertising industry to this threat.
Advertising; Neoliberalism; Capital; Public opinion