The Bettina ad: R$1,520 to R$1M in three years — Procon called it misleading

In March 2019 the Brazilian financial publisher Empiricus ran a video ad featuring Bettina Rudolph, its 22-year-old employee: she had started investing at 19 with R$ 1,520 and 'three years later I have more than R$ 1 million' — adding 'os resultados, eu garanto, serão os mesmos': the results, I guarantee, will be the same. Presented as a spontaneous testimonial with no advertising label, the video went viral, became the meme of the month — and drew a formal notification from Procon-SP.

Procon-SP ruled the ad misleading under article 37 of the Consumer Protection Code: a guarantee of results in the variable stock market was 'enganosa e capaz de induzir o consumidor a erro' — deceptive and capable of leading consumers into error. On 25 March it also filed a criminal representation with São Paulo's civil police. CONAR, the advertising self-regulator, ordered the ad suspended, and the CVM securities regulator and the Ministério Público opened investigations. On 5 April Procon fined Empiricus R$ 58.2 thousand.

Empiricus defended the piece as a teaser for a free financial-education course produced by 'a diligent team of 32 specialists', and insisted the story was real. It was not enough: 'Bettina' remains Brazil's shorthand for financial-ad hype, and the case is taught as the textbook false-advertising finding — testimonial format plus promised returns plus no ad label.