When it comes to notoriety in the 21st century, it is hard to compete with Osama bin Laden. The international terrorist -- and founder of Sunni militant Islamist organization al-Qaeda -- is said to be responsible for militant activity around world from the 1997 Luxor Massacre in Egypt to the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001.
Having left his mark of terror and violence around the world, it is not difficult to see why most of the world let out a sigh of relief when he met his demise in 2011. What is hard to understand; however, is how the deceased radical has become a lucrative instrument in the restaurant industry post-humously. Or at least, that's the case in Brazil.
In São Paulo, the largest city in Brazil, Ceará Francisco Helder Braga Fernandes once owned an ordinary tavern called Galeria do Rock in the Anhangabau neighborhood. But a few years ago, after people started snapping his picture due to his resemblance with bin Laden, Fernandes decided to try a new business strategy: an Osama bin Laden themed bar named Bar do Bin Laden.
“I am a man of goodwill. I can’t stand violence,” says Fernandes, 54, to news site Vocativ. “But this was great for business. No one calls me Francisco anymore. It’s Osama or bin Laden.”
Fernandes' seemingly ridiculous (and risky) business plan may sound like an instant recipe for failure, but the landscape of small businesses in Brazil prove otherwise. Since the conception of Bar do Bin Laden, many establishments have been profiting on the bin Laden name from sit-down restaurant Bin Laden and Family and automobile parts dealer Bin Laden Bombas to Niteroi nightspot Bin Laden’s Cave and beer hall Bin Laden’s Bar in Juiz de Fora.
Suffice to say, with Brazil hosting the World Cup this summer and the 2016 Summer Olympics around the corner, the bin Laden themed destinations can be seen as distasteful and insensitive to the many international tourists attending the events.
British expat Andrew Creelman, who runs the blog What About São Paolo, recalls his experience of stumbling into Bar do Bin Laden with his friends to find hundreds of photographs of Fernandes, dressed up like the now-dead al-Qaeda leader, as "bizarre." But Creelman also explains that Brazilians are not trying to be offensive, as they do not see bin Laden the way the world does.
“It’s interesting because in Brazil, which has not really witnessed terrorism, they see Bin Laden as a funny kind of character rather than someone who is offensive,” he says to Fusion. “Whereas in England and in the U.S., we have both experienced terrorism firsthand, so we take [the bar’s theme] differently.”
Watch the video below to see Fernandes in action at his bar:
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