Brazilian Evangelical Brands Range from Gospel Sex Shops to Fast Food, Competing for a Billion-Dollar Market

Evangelical entrepreneurs in Brazil are turning religious references into consumer brands, competing in a market worth more than R$20 billion a year, fueled by Generation Z.

The trend includes burger chains, clothing brands, ride-hailing services, alcohol-free bars and even a sex shop. São Paulo-based Bem Amada, founded by Adriana Araujo, sells products for the "playground" of marriage without "abandoning Christian values." According to her, the goal is "to strengthen marriages and help women experience their sexuality without guilt, but with responsibility, love and respect for their values, without vulgarity and without shame."

According to Renato Meirelles, president of the Locomotiva Institute, the phenomenon formalizes a type of commerce that had long existed informally within churches, but now on a larger scale and driven by a new generation. A survey by the institute found that 47% of evangelicals prefer to buy from businesses owned by people of the same faith, compared with 38% of Catholics.

Anthropologist Livia Reis, of Iser, compares the movement to other identity-based consumer niches, such as "black money" and "pink money."

"Under neoliberalism, everything becomes a product," she said.