As looks go, Joana Amaral Dias has the booty – but analysts are trying to decide whether it was wise of her to become the first Portuguese political candidate to pose naked for the front page of a glossy magazine. According to Público, her partners in the left-wing AGIR coalition are not so sure.
Granted it has put them “in the mouths of the world but not for the right reasons”.
Gil Garcia of the MAS (alternative Socialist movement) said he wished Amaral Dias had “articulated” her intentions before embarking upon them.
But he agreed he couldn’t really see whether the rush of publicity would help or hinder the AGIR campaign.
Appearing in steamy oiled black and white, in the arms of her partner Pedro, Amaral Dias has raised the bar on nude shots of aspiring politicians by being pregnant as well.
While marketing specialists have considered it was “over the top marketing”, one who refused to be named reminded Público that there are “minimum conventions” that need to be observed in his profession.
The ‘product’, for example, has to be trustworthy and “in politicians, a certain decorum and posture is needed to guarantee that these people are in the possession of their faculties and can be elected to public duties”.
Amaral Dias nonetheless is unrepentant. The decision to pose naked and pregnant a month before the elections was a personal one, designed both as a homage to pregnant women “who are often stripped naked with no recourse to appeal” – she did not expand on this – and a way of highlighting the hypocrisy of the press which can ignore important issues in favour of a candidate that “assumes an unusual attitude”.
Certainly, she did not receive any payment for her sultry pose in the seventh issue of Cristina magazine – and she may find offers pouring in future if AGIR fails to secure any seats in parliament.
Joana Amaral Dias is AGIR’s candidate for Lisbon and a frequent commentator for national tabloid Correio da Manhã.
Credit © 2015 PÚBLICO
