Under the Sun in Brazil

The sun provides warmth for humans, but it also carries invisible dangers.  The ultraviolet rays prompt the skin to produce melanin, the skin pigment that darkens to a tan as well as vitamin D.  For this reason, a good tan is sometimes regarded as the sign of good health.  Yet, the ultraviolet rays also lead to cumulative damage to the skin, leading to sunburn soreness, wrinkles and aging.  Worse yet, the ultraviolet rays can damage the genetic materials in skin cells, resulting in skin cancer such as such as melanoma and basal and squamous cell carcinoma.  Against the potentially damaging effects of the sun's ultraviolet rays, some people use various suntan/sunscreen products.

We will now cite some survey data from the TGI Brasil study.  This is a survey of 5,312 persons between the ages of 12 to 64 years old who were interviewed during the first half of 2002.  According to this study 26.2% of the people said that they had used a sunscreen or sunblock product within the last 30 days.

As a country, the climate of Brazil varies considerably from the mostly tropical North (the equator traverses the mouth of the Amazon) to temperate zones below the Tropic of Capricorn (23°27' S latitude), which crosses the country at the latitude of the city of São Paulo. Brazil has five climatic regions--equatorial, tropical, semiarid, highland tropical, and subtropical.  The following chart shows the incidences by city.  Here, there are in fact two factors involved --- proximity to the equator (as in the cases of Salvador and Recife) and proximity to beaches (as in the case of Rio de Janeiro).  When either is true or both are true, the incidences rise.  When neither is true, the incidence falls (as in the case of Sao Paulo).

(source: TGI Brasil)

In the next chart, we show the traditional age/sex segmentation.  Getting the perfect suntan is very much a female (and a younger) obsession.

(source: TGI Brasil)

Suntan/sunscreen products utilize chemicals such as zinc oxide or titanium dioxide as well as naturally extracted oils.  As such, such products may in fact be fairly expensive on the market.  The next chart certainly shows that there is a relationship with affluence in the form of socio-economic level and educational achievement.

(source: TGI Brasil)

Apart from the cold financial considerations of suntanning, we can think of another angle that is based upon need.  Who needs to work on a suntan?  Surely, this has to be a function of the natural color of a person's skin.  There are a variety of conditions.  For example, to speak of a black man's tan amounts to a slur.  At the other extreme, a very pale person will simply burn red in the sun without ever getting a tan.  In the next chart, we show the incidences by racial characteristics.  Indeed, the incidences are higher with the whites and mulatos.  

(source: TGI Brasil)

And if we have two different dimensions --- racial characteristics and socio-economic level --- working simultaneously, then their confluence must work jointly with each other.  Indeed, the next chart shows this to be the case.  Within both whites and mulatos, the incidence of usage increases by socio-economic level.  What about blacks and Indians, you ask?  Reflecting the nature of Brazilian society, we do not have enough sample cases of blacks and Indians in the AB class to report reliably.  In fact, the astute reader may have noted the seemingly odd situation in the chart.  Whereas the overall incidences of usage are the same 27% for whites and mulatos, this chart shows that the mulatos have higher incidences at every socio-economic level.  Is that possible?  Yes, for there are relatively many more whites in the AB class whereas there were relatively many more mulatos in the DE class.  Thus it is that even a simple analysis of a consumer product becomes a discourse on racial and class relations.

(source: TGI Brasil)

(posted by Roland Soong, 01/03/2003)