I’m a Santos fan. I’ve lived with the nickname *Peixão* ("Big Fish") since childhood, though it was always more closely linked to fishing in the Baixada Santista region and the club’s mascot than to aquaculture. And the mascot isn't even a fish. Back in the 1950s, a cartoonist for *Gazeta Esportiva* drew a whale to represent the team, deeming it more imposing than just any ordinary fish. The symbol caught on and was officially adopted into the club's statutes in 2011.
This week, however, a real fish appeared on the team's jersey—courtesy of the aquaculture industry.
Canção Alimentos announced on its social media channels that the Santos uniform had been updated. Not with a new logo, but with a hashtag: #VaiDeTilápia ("Go with Tilapia"). The brand opted to forgo displaying its own name in the advertising space it had purchased, choosing instead to feature the name of the fish itself.
What has actually changed
Canção, a brand owned by the GTF group, has sponsored Santos since January 2024. The logo has always been placed on the shoulder blade area, under a contract running through the end of 2026. An initial adjustment occurred in May of this year, when the brand switched from red to black and white to align with the club's identity.
The latest move is of a different nature. It is not about changing the logo's color; it is about removing the logo and replacing it with a consumer-facing campaign.
It represents the difference between selling a brand and selling a category. A company paying for space on a uniform usually wants fans to memorize its name. Here, fans are invited to memorize the product. The direct benefit goes to Canção, of course, but the message extends to any tilapia fillet sitting on the adjacent store shelf.
The timing reinforces this interpretation. "Seafood Week" (Semana do Pescado) takes place from September 1st to 15th, led by the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture and structured around four pillars: health, curiosity, pleasure, and habit. One of the campaign's initiatives is precisely to establish a routine, using the slogan "Friday is Fish Day." Placing a consumption-focused hashtag on a Série A jersey during this window is no calendar coincidence.
Frescatto has sponsored Fluminense since 2015—with a hiatus between 2018 and 2022—and renewed its contract in January of this year, extending it through January 2027. The company has over 75 years of history, employs more than 1,300 people, and exports to Canada, the United States, Mexico, Japan, and China. It also positions itself as Brazil’s first "Carbon Free" seafood brand.
Upon renewing the deal, the company’s CEO clearly articulated the rationale behind the partnership. He noted that the brand’s work is grounded in flavor, sustainability, and health; supporting the club brings the brand closer to sports—a key factor in promoting health across all ages and social classes.
The logic is sound, yet the format follows the traditional model: brand on the chest, brand in the memory. What Canção did with Santos, however, represents a step forward, as it sets aside its own brand signature in favor of the protein itself.
Why this is happening now
The numbers tell the story better than any marketing analysis.
Brazilian fish farming surpassed the 1-million-ton mark in 2025—an unprecedented milestone—reflecting 4.4% annual growth and a nearly 60% increase over the decade. Tilapia accounts for almost 70% of this volume, with production exceeding 700,000 tons in 2025.
Paraná leads this production by a wide margin. It is home to GTFoods—based in Maringá—a group that started in the chicken industry, expanded into tilapia, and projects revenues of R$ 10 billion by 2035.
When a supply chain doubles in size over ten years, it reaches a point where production is no longer the bottleneck. Demand becomes the bottleneck. And demand for protein isn't built through technical brochures; it is built through habit.
Where football comes in
Football is Brazil’s greatest vehicle for spreading cultural habits. Beer brands understood this. Banks understood it. Betting companies grasped it almost too quickly.
Seafood was never part of that conversation. It would show up during Lent, during Holy Week, or in institutional campaigns by public agencies. It didn't appear on the jerseys of Série A teams, vying for space alongside the country's biggest consumer brands.
Being there now means the category has built up enough scale, margins, and ambition to foot the bill. It is an indicator of the sector's maturity, not just a nice gesture.
What we can't say yet
To be honest: two cases do not make a trend. Frescatto and Canção are the only significant seafood brands present in Brazilian football today. I looked for others and found nothing of note.
It is also worth remembering that this is advertising, not public policy. A hashtag on a jersey doesn't change per capita consumption on its own. What it does is normalize the presence of fish in an environment where it had never been before—and normalization is a slow process that only works through repetition.
The white Santos jersey carries a specific history, and it involves Pelé. Seeing the word "tilapia" printed on that jersey in September 2026, during Fish Week, is an image that would have seemed improbable to the sector ten years ago.
As a Santos fan, I found it amusing. As someone who follows aquaculture every day, I found it significant.
The club that adopted a whale because it found the fish lacking in impressiveness spent this week sporting a tilapia on its chest. It took a while, but the fish returned.
Source: Portal Aquaculture Br