Brazil’s Beloved Havaianas Face Right-Wing Boycott After “Leftist Propaganda”

“I thought this was a national symbol. I was wrong.”

For a real long time, Havaianas owned the feet of every hipster, a thirty-dollar Brazilian alternative to the old-school Australian double-plugger, footwear you’d pick up for a couple of bucks at the supermarket.

Around these parts, and by that I mean the blood-soaked streets of Bondi Beach, Havs were everywhere, courtesy I think of the marketing of then-Havaianas marketing whiz Danielle Cox, wife of master shaper Hayden Cox, a gal who sure knew how to throw a party.

Havaianas slogan declares: “Everyone wears them. Everyone loves them.”

“DITCH HAVAIANAS FOR CROCS”

Well, now, amid Brazil’s deepening political divides, Havaianas have become a political football with right-wingers encouraging fellow travellers to ditch the Havs for, ugh, Crocs.

The right’s opinion of Havs changed dramatically with the launch of Havaianas’ holiday/New Year campaign in late December 2025. The ad features acclaimed actress Fernanda Torres, whose starring role in the Oscar-winning film I’m Still Here (about Brazil’s military dictatorship) made her a global star and a progressive icon at home.

In the playful commercial, Torres tells viewers not to start 2026 “on the right foot” but instead “with both feet,” urging them to dive fully into the year: “both feet in the door, both feet on the road, both feet in the game.”

Conservatives quickly interpreted the phrase as a veiled jab at the political right, especially with the 2026 presidential election looming. Prominent voices, including sons of former President Jair Bolsonaro (currently serving a 27-year prison sentence for plotting a coup after his 2022 election loss), called for a boycott. 

Eduardo Bolsonaro posted a video dramatically tossing a pair of black Havaianas complete with the signature Brazilian flag detail into the trash, declaring, “I thought this was a national symbol. I was wrong.”

Allies echoed the sentiment, vowing to switch to rival brands or even Crocs.

The backlash caused a brief dip in Alpargatas (Havaianas’ parent company) stock value, while social media filled with videos of people discarding or burning the sandals. Some conservatives linked the ad’s star — Torres, an outspoken Bolsonaro critic — to “leftist propaganda.”

Havaianas and Torres have not commented publicly on the controversy.

GABRIEL MEDINA’S LINKS TO JAIR BOLSONARO

Do you remember when when livid surf fans blamed three-time world champion Gabriel Medina’s exit from the Quiksilver Pro on his friendship with Brazil’s right-wing president Jair Bolsonaro?

Medina, who seemed to have the Quiksilver Pro’s balls on the point of his knife exited in a dull quarter-final with a sub-ten point two-wave total.

His fans, of which there are many millions, blamed the controversial Bolsonaro, with whom Medina and his guy-pal, the soccer player Neymar, had been trading video messages.

Better times etc.