Why This Loved Brazilian Sitcom Character Was Removed from a Special Broadcast

Brazilian TV channel SBT broadcast a special episode of the sitcom El Chavo last week to raise awareness of child abandonment. The main character of El Chavo, who is an orphan living alone, was omitted from the show. He is one of the most beloved characters in the country.

The campaign was created by WMcCann. After watching all episodes of the show, the agency used the technique of rotoscopy to remove the boy from the episode scenes, which were edited to create a new story. In the special episode - which featured original voice actors - the village characters notice that Chavo is missing and start looking for him. This way, SBT ensured visibility to a social problem that is often invisible to the public eye.

“This is one of the oldest shows of SBT - it has just completed 35 years on the SBT grid and people love it," said Priscila Stoliar, SBT marketing manager. "But unfortunately, it addresses a persistent social problem: child abandonment. And as SBT do Bem promotes actions for reflection and transformation of society, we wanted to use this opportunity to raise awareness about this problem through a character that shows the situation of many children in Brazil, although many times we don’t see Chavo as a homeless child, but he lives in a barrel, is always hungry (looking for ham sandwiches), and has no father or mother.” Priscila also noted that the theme will be further addressed by the SBT journalism department.