Indigenous people and the engaged audiences were invited and to comment on the key communications campaigns on Indigenous people and also the ones for the strengthening of their rights.

The campaign that was most remembered and praised by the engaged audiences was the 2017 campaign known as “Menos Preconceito, Mais Índio” [Less Prejudice, More Indigenous], the first one produced for television and cinemas by the Instituto Socioambiental (ISA).

“ISA produced an incredible video, debunking the myth that Indigenous peoples cannot evolve, or cannot enjoy the benefits of technology. There has not yet been enough effort to dispel the narrative that Indigenous peoples are against development or that they are less authentic if they benefit from some of our technological advances”, one of the filmmakers interviewed pointed out.

Several civil society respondents said they have screened the video in training programmes and meetings, and even have shared it in WhatsApp groups. Still, many raised concerns about its reach, whether due to its short duration and limited channels, or in view of the absence of a call to action and follow-up work.

The second campaign in people's memory was “Somos Todos Guarani Kaiowá” [We are all Guarani-Kaiowá]. It was triggered by a letter signed by 170 Indigenous people in which they ask the government and the courts to decree the collective death of the Guarani-Kaiowá people living at the Pyelito Kue/Mbarakay lands, after they were asked to vacate the non-demarcated area in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. This led many Facebook users to add Guarani-Kaiowá to their names, and generated a profusion of posts and tweets with the hashtags #SomosTodosGuaraniKaiowá and #SouGuaraniKaiowá. In addition, several protests were staged in Brazil and overseas, and an Avaaz petition collected nearly 350,000 signatures.

At the time, Indigenous anthropologist Tonico Benites, with support from the Brazil Human Rights Fund, started visiting Guarani-Kaiowá camps, publishing photos and videos on the internet, as well as reports and complaints from Indigenous people. The DAPP/FGV survey on social networks identified that, between 2015 and 2018, there was a marked growth in digital campaigns around the Guarani-Kaiowá people. In the entire period, over 17,000 posts were collected, totalling more than 1.5 million interactions.

The third most cited campaign was “É a Gota d'Água + 10” [It's a drop of water plus 10], created by Movimento Gota d'Água with the goal of involving Brazilian society in discussions about energy planning in Brazil. The main product in the campaign, a film directed by filmmaker Marcos Prado, brought together famous Brazilian TV Globo actors such as Juliana Paes, Marcos Palmeira, Maitê Proença, Isis Valverde, and Ary Fontoura, who challenged the construction of the Belo Monte hydroelectric plant. The campaign was remembered for the fame and engagement of the actors involved, for the novelty it represented at the time, for its national and international reach, and for the debate it generated about the hydroelectric power plant. It was not enough to stop the construction of Belo Monte, but the stir it created resulted in the organisation Uma Gota no Oceano [A Drop in the Ocean] 10 years ago.

Greenpeace Brazil's campaign against the Tapajós hydroelectric dams was also cited by interested and engaged audiences, and gathered more than 1.2 million signatures against the construction of the dams. As a result, Greenpeace also produced a non-official analysis of the dam's Environmental Impact Study (EIA).

The participation of actors and celebrities was identified as a key factor to attract greater visibility to these campaigns among the general public. It was also a determining factor, albeit fragile, to stop the voting of bills contrary to the environment and the rights of Indigenous peoples in the past few years. For others, however, celebrity engagement is still “superficial”, “sporadic”, “dispersed”, and “shy”; and campaigns are “reactive”, “emergencial”, “poorly planned”, and “not well organised”.

In spite of that, a survey titled “Youth and Democracy in Latin America”, commissioned by Luminate and launched in early 2022, points out that young Brazilians aged 16 to 24 are shaping their political views through influencers they follow on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter.

The predominant aesthetic language in communication pieces was described by some of the respondents as “excessively aestheticised”, “alienated”, and “distant from Brazil and the reality of Indigenous peoples”. For them, “Indigenous people today have a space repressed in our imagination”, but it is necessary to “deconstruct the stereotype of Indigenous people developed with stereotyped language”. We have been acting “out of guilt”, but it would be important “to pay more attention to the drive of cultural issues”.

Some raised concerns about the language used in the campaigns, and about the use of terms and jargon that are not well understood by society, such as “marco temporal” time framework], “land demarcation”, and “land grabbing”. Translating these terms, simplifying them, discussing them with society, and “bringing Indigenous struggles closer to other struggles would be a way of breaking the bubbles in which we live”.

Several people highlighted the importance of expanding the development of campaigns and communication projects beyond the Rio-São Paulo axis, thinking about how to discuss these topics with populations in the “Amazon region”, “in Amazon cities”, “in border areas”, “the inland”, and in “other regions of the country”.

Currently, “these campaigns circulate in the same places, groups, and people. They never leave their tight circle. It is urgent that movements, networks, and observatories, come into contact with other movements. Campaigns also need to reach and think about rural areas, and establish a dialogue with populations on the periphery of the country”.

“Demarcação Já!” [Demarcation Now!] and “Sangue Indígena: Nenhuma Gota Mais” [Indigenous Blood: Not Another Drop], the campaign against the extinction of the The National Reserve of Copper and Associates (RENCA, acronym in Portuguese), and against Constitutional Amendment Bill 215 were also mentioned, but by a smaller group of engaged respondents. They were seen to open “space for us to connect and promote a deeper discussion about what the 1988 Constitution actually says”. These campaigns were highlighted for having been led by the Indigenous movement, for touching on issues that are still very complex, difficult, and distant from Brazilian society, for strengthening established organisations and alliances, for engaging celebrities, and for their successes, even when they were temporary.

“Defund Bolsonaro” was not one of the most cited campaigns, but it was the one that generated the most heated reactions among some of the respondents. Launched in September 2020, the main product in the campaign was a film just over 1 minute long. It innovated the imagery and narrative about the Amazon by presenting cities and international products on fire, linking corporations and global brands to forest fires and the Bolsonaro government. The film ended with the questions: 'Ask yourself, ask these brands, and ask your government: what side are you on? Bolsonaro's or the Amazon's'? The campaign went viral on social media, received attention from the national press, especially after actor and philanthropist Leonardo DiCaprio joined in, and generated criticism from government officials.

Due to the initiative, Brazil's Head of the Institutional Security Office (GSI), General Augusto Heleno, accused Indigenous leader Sônia Guajajara and Apib of a 'crime against the homeland'. Concerns about backlash or negative impacts from the campaign were highlighted by some respondents.

Representatives of international organisations were more positive, although they were concerned about how time-sensitive the campaign might be, and about difficulties in understanding its demands. “The campaign is amazingly produced, it's impactful, but it is so broad that it's hard to understand exactly what people are being asked to do.”

Even if not directly linked to Indigenous peoples, the Globo Network's campaign named “Agro: A indústria-riqueza do Brasil” [Agriculture: The wealth of Brazil], also known as “O Agro é Pop” [Agro is Pop] was mentioned by interested and engaged audiences to point out the absence of a campaign that could match this one in terms of resources, structure, grandeur, budget, and length, and to discuss the difficulty — or impossibility, according to some — of creating a different imagery to counter the exaltation of agribusiness in Brazil.

“‘Agro is pop’, a statement we have often heard on television, is violent and should not exist, since TV channels are public concessions” highlighted one of the investigate journalists interviewed. The campaign has become the subject of memes, cartoons, and criticism on social networks.

“Agriculture is not and does not produce ‘Brazil's wealth’, but it receives most public resources in credits, incentives, tax exemptions, debt relief, etc. Most of the profit goes to foreign capital companies such as Bunge and Cargill. It does not generate jobs or income, and relies on technological packages imported from abroad.” The campaign is in its third season and, according to a report by UOL, it is currently sponsored by Bradesco [a major private bank in Brazil] and by Ford.

In December 2021, due to negative reactions from the agribusiness sector, Bradesco withdrew from a campaign in which digital influencers offered tips on how to reduce your carbon footprint, including reducing meat consumption. They stopped airing the campaign and released a letter in which they stated that the views of digital influencers in relation to beef consumption were misconceived, and did not represent Bradesco's views on beef consumption.