The government (PT) prioritized advertisements for and Minas Gerais over the last few months in advertisements on platforms and . The two states accounted for 42% of the R$5.7 million spent on boosts that mention the location of users from October 2025 to April 14 of this year.
The dissemination of advertisements that mention states, cities and even neighborhoods was the focus of the president’s team’s digital advertising, representing 25% of the R$23 million spent on platforms in the period analyzed. The largest monthly investment on the topic occurred in December, when R$2.5 million was spent.
In addition to campaigns aimed at specific regions, the Lula government’s advertising at Meta also involved topics such as exemption from Income Tax for those earning up to R$5,000 (21% of the total spent on Meta), public security (15.8%), combating violence against women and children and the end of the 6×1 scale (4.5% each).
Ads targeted at specific regions seek to offer public services or publicize federal works in the locations. There is content that shows, for example, the highway that connects Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, or that sets up tents to serve the population in capitals, such as Campo Grande (MS), and Vitória (ES), as well as neighborhoods such as Heliópolis, in São Paulo.
There is also content that praises certain states and publicizes generic actions. “When Rio Grande do Sul advances, the whole of Brazil advances together. Brazil belongs to the gauchos”, says one. “Brazil belongs to the people of Ceará! The Government of Brazil is improving the lives of thousands of people from Ceará!”, points out another.
In recent months, the Lula government has made announcements aimed at 21 states and the Federal District, but the amount spent varies. Rio and Minas are the only ones that exceed R$1 million.
For Natalia Mendonça, professor of political marketing at ESPM (Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing), investment in advertising on networks seeks to “reach citizens at different times and in the environments in which they frequent”. She considers that the values “do not escape logic due to the size of Brazil”.
“[A segmentação] directs more specific messages to each of these audiences, which improves the conversion rate, which in this case is greater viewing and engagement”, he says.
Mendonça highlights that there is nothing that prevents the government from prioritizing any state in advertising, but assesses that the choice of Minas and Rio may be linked to the search to improve Lula’s performance in these states.
The second and third largest electoral colleges in the country, respectively, Minas and Rio are also strategic in Lula’s re-election campaign and have state platforms with different scenarios.
In Minas, according to, the senator (), close to Bolsonarism, appears ahead in the race for government. In the scenario that considers ten names in the dispute, he has 30%, followed by the former mayor of (), with 14%, of (), with 8%, and the governor (), with 4%. Without a strong PT name, Lula’s intention was to support Pacheco.
In Rio, the former mayor (), who promised to support Lula, led the government, with 34%, followed by the Bolsonaro pre-candidate (PL), with 9%, and the former governor (Republicans), with 8%. Although Paes has committed to the current president, his party will have Planalto as a candidate.
One of the most expensive advertisements about states and municipalities was broadcast in December and focused on Rio.
“The Government of Brazil is taking good care of Rio. The state broke a record for elective surgeries through the SUS and is shining with the doubling of Serra das Araras. In January, thousands of Rio residents will have zero,” he says.
The post was published on Instagram and Facebook for less than a week and cost around R$300,000.
In Minas, the peak of investment occurred in March. “Transformation of BR-381, Maracanã Complex and more: there are several works by the Government of Brazil that come to improve Minas Gerais”, says one content.
The post cost R$175,000 and was up for ten days.
Technical parameters and legislation
When questioned, Secom (Secretariat of Social Communication of the Presidency of the Republic) stated that “the distribution of investments in advertising is guided by technical parameters and strictly observes current legislation”.
The secretariat said that the 2008 decree establishes as a guideline the “valuation of symbolic elements of national and regional culture” in advertising and denied the relationship between advertisements and elections and that states are being prioritized to the detriment of others.
“Communication actions with regionalized content and media segmentation are carried out for all units of the Federation. The distribution of investments follows the parameters established by normative instruction No. 2 of 2023, which observe factors such as geographic coverage, population volume and implementation schedule of public policies in each location, among others”, he stated.
The government also said that it “reflects the new habits of Brazilians when seeking information” and argued that Secom is responsible for “providing broad knowledge to society about policies, programs and services of the Executive Branch”, in addition to “disseminating citizens’ rights, encouraging social participation and disseminating information of public interest”.
The second category with the most funding, the promotion of IR exemption had a peak in spending in February, coinciding with the beginning of the exemption, which appeared on the month’s paychecks, and with the consolidation of (PL-RJ) as an opponent in the presidential race.
After the release of projections that showed Flávio’s growth, Lula’s allies told Sheet than in popularity.
“Have you looked at your paycheck? Anyone who earns up to R$5,000 per month is free from Income Tax. It’s the first time in history that this has happened!”, states the most expensive booster on the topic.
The ad was published for 25 days and generated 1 million impressions from an investment of at least R$300,000.
The month also registered a record overall ad spend on Meta in the period: R$4.8 million to boost 212 pieces of content.
The analysis considered data from Biblioteca da Meta on advertisements from the Government of Brazil page that received impressions from October 1st to April 14th, which also includes posts published at the end of September.
Spending on promoting the topic could be even higher, as the Target does not disclose the exact value, but a price range. THE Sheet considered the lowest amount spent. The ads were classified based on keywords that identify the main themes.
