Interview for Analise Editorial. Read the full text
A labor judgment against Magazine Luiza (Magalu) has raised a warning sign in the legal departments of large companies. The decision ordered the retailer to pay damages for pressuring employees to participate in videos for social media – and recognized that the employer’s directive power finds limits in the worker’s fundamental rights, especially the right to one’s own image. For marketing and HR teams, the message is direct: spontaneous engagement and veiled obligation are very distinct concepts before the Labor Court.
The case, however, goes beyond the conviction itself. It exposes a governance gap that affects companies in all sectors: the absence of formal protocols for the use of an employee’s image in digital content. In a scenario in which institutional videos and campaigns featuring staff have become routine in corporate communication strategies, understanding where a legitimate invitation ends and veiled coercion begins has ceased to be an academic question – and has become a legal urgency.
What does the Magalu case reveal?
The context preceding Magazine Luiza’s conviction is revealing. While digital marketing strategies increasingly incorporated the faces and voices of the employees themselves, the legal departments were rarely brought to the table. The practice became normalized before any protocol was established – and the Labor Court began to take notice. Not by chance, cases involving the use of one’s image in corporate content are piling up in the courts at the same pace at which the brands’ feeds are growing.
Anthony Braga, attorney in the labor practice at Lassori Advogados, reinforces this reading and points to a vector of growth. “The courts have been reinforcing that the power of direction is not absolute and must respect the worker’s fundamental rights, especially his or her dignity, image, and freedom.” For him, the volume of cases tends to grow: “As short-form advertising videos are on the rise, the consequences of this practice – which can be very harmful to the employer who does not know how to deal with the limits of directive power – are also growing in geometric progression.”
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