MANILA, Philippines ? The Brazilians have invaded Manila. From Akihiro Sato?s huge billboard for a clothing company on Edsa to another Brazilian male model endorsing the competitor, these good-looking human specimens have replaced popular Filipino celebrities as hawkers of mass-consumer goods.
This era?s ?it? girl, Gisele Bundchen, is a Brazilian. She?s the face of scores of international brands like Dior, Versace, Dolce & Gabbana fragrance and Max Factor, and is worth $150 million, according to Forbes Magazine. Bundchen made $35 million last year alone. She?s been ranked the 16th-richest woman in Hollywood, and once dated Leonardo DiCaprio before eventually marrying star quarterback Tom Brady.
Her compatriots in the Philippines may seem to live glam lives, but many of them have said they left their country to escape poverty and find greener pastures. Sato, who is of Brazilian/Japanese descent, admitted that he grew up in humble surroundings and never tried modeling until he was spotted by talent scouts in Manila.
Most of them speak only Portuguese, Brazil?s national language, and are non-conversant in other tongues. Some did not even finish high school.
Low talent fees
They live in cramped studio units in the high rises of Salcedo or Legaspi Village, sometimes four people sharing a 36-square meter space. They split among themselves the rent that ranges from P20,000-P30,000. They go out all day doing casting calls and ?go sees? in packs, crisscrossing Ayala Avenue to pout and act before bored talent agents.
They accept talent fees as low as P3,000 per day of work just to make ends meet, and sometimes, even gift certificates for magazine shoots, just to beef up their modeling portfolio. They spend the night partying in events to increase their visibility and for those photo-ops that would hopefully land them in the dailies.
They bar-hop courtesy of their evening?s benefactors, or as part of their signing privileges in some high-end establishments. Once, I was surprised to be with a bunch of these Brazilian gods and goddesses on a roro (roll-on, roll-off) ferry bound for Boracay. Some Bicolano politician invited them for a week?s stay in the party capital during Holy Week. They endured the 15-hour travel just to do Boracay?s sunset cruises and bite into a politician?s dream of recreating the French Riviera or Capri lifestyle by way of Sibuyan Sea and Tablas Strait.
And who would ever forget the horrors these poor models had to endure during a 2008 fashion show, when Immigration agents raided the backstage of SMX Expo, arresting every Caucasian-looking model who allegedly didn?t have working papers?
While these models may have taken jobs away from local models, how the government agency dealt with the matter was distasteful and downright racist.
Fortunately, some Brazilians have found unqualified success in the Philippines. Beauty queen Priscilla Meirelles decided to stay and make Manila her second home after winning Miss Earth. Diana Meneses is now a mainstay of a noontime show and is doing very well as a comedienne.
Male model Adriano Kartuliares is now the chef of Nuvo Greenbelt after logging some kitchen time as consultant in the Brasil! Brasil! restaurant chain.
Different fame
However, another female Brazilian is enjoying a different kind of fame with those infamous sex videos. She is perhaps still unaware of the video since she had left for Europe before it became a sensation.
Gone are the days when we had to ?fly in? foreign models. Many are practically in our doorsteps these days. When I was with an ad agency, our client had to shoulder the costs of hiring foreign models, paying international rates and putting them in first-class accommodations.
Brazilians then were totally unheard of. We usually went for French-Vietnamese for their delicate features?Asian bone structure, aquiline nose, colored eyes and dark hair. Think Zhang Ziyi in ?Memoirs of a Geisha.?
It?s clear that, for now, Brazilian models are here to stay, even if none of them would come close to even a tenth of the money their compatriot, Bundchen, earns. How long will this fad last? Who knows. Let?s just sit back, and enjoy the parade of pulchritude.
