Pirilampo Mágico (English: "Magic Firefly") is a Portuguese annual charity campaign, aimed at raising funds for the CERCI cooperatives that support children with Intellectual disability and economic hardship. This campaign has taken place every year in May since 1987. As a means of fundraising, stuffed toys representing fireflies are sold. In 2012, the campaign celebrated its 25th anniversary. Up to 2012, approximately 16.5 million euros were raised.
History The doll was conceived by the graphic designer Mário Jorge Fernandes, then working at Radiodifusão Portuguesa. At a time when the CERCI were facing financial difficulties, Jaime Calado, then president of CERCI Lisboa, took part in the radio program "A Arte de Bem Madrugar" on Antena 1, where journalist José Manuel Nunes mentioned a national charity campaign in the United Kingdom "associated with a friendly creature". As a result, the idea emerged to design a campaign that would create "a symbol that appealed to a childlike dimension of charity, but that had some meaning" with the keywords "magic", "solidarity" and "light", according to Rogério Cação, vice-president of the Federação Nacional de Cooperativas de Solidariedade Social.
In 1999 along with the traditional Pirilampo Mágico, a female version known as "Miss Pirilampo Mágico", in a different colour and featuring a paper bow, was sold. The following year, the miss was sold again, but with a fabric bow. There have been no further editions in which two different pirilampos were sold.
In 2018 the Pirilampo Mágico campaign faced delays due to changes in the manufacturing of the pirilampos, which began to be made of rubber. Consequently, a second sales phase was held in October for the first time.https://www.publico.pt/2018/06/12/sociedade/noticia/problemas-no-fabrico-do-pirilampo-magico-atrasam-campanha-1834028 The following year, the design of the rubber pirilampos was updated.
In 2020 the campaign was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.https://www.fenacerci.pt/2020/04/04/campanha-pirilampo-magico-adiada/ The pirilampos were produced but were only sold in October 2021,https://www.fenacerci.pt/pirilampo-magico/arquivo-cpm/campanha-pirilampo-magico-2021/ although they were dated 2020. The 2022 campaign also took place in Octoberhttps://www.fenacerci.pt/2022/10/15/pirilampo-magico-2022/ and, for accounting purposes, the pirilampos from that year are dated 2021/22. It was only in 2023 that the campaign returned to being held in May.https://www.fenacerci.pt/pirilampo-magico/arquivo-cpm/campanha-pirilampo-magico-2023/
Sales In the first edition about 92,000 pirilampos mágicos were sold; in 2012, around 800,000 were sold, and in 1995 and 2000 sales exceeded 1 million. From the first campaign until that of 2019, a total of 23,264,139 pirilampos were sold.https://www.fenacerci.pt/pirilampo-magico/cores-e-numeros/
Editions # Year Body Feet and Antenna Sponsorship Price1st1987Antena1, Cerci's2nd1988Antena1, Cerci's3rd1989Antena1, Cerci's4th1990Antena1, Cerci's5th1991Antena1, Fenacerci6th1992 Antena1, Fenacerci300$7th1993RDP1, Fenacerci8th1994Antena1, Fenacerci9th1995Antena1, Fenacerci300$10th1996RDP Antena1, Fenacerci300$11th1997RDP Antena1, Fenacerci300$12th1998RDP Antena1, Fenacerci13th1999RDP Antena1, Fenacerci350$14th2000RDP Antena1, Fenacerci15th2001RDP Antena1, Fenacerci16th2002RDP Antena1, Fenacerci2€17th2003RDP Antena1, Fenacerci2€18th2004Antena1, Fenacerci2€19th2005Antena1, Fenacerci2€20th2006Antena1, Fenacerci2€21st2007Antena1, Fenacerci2€22nd2008Antena1, Fenacerci2€23rd2009Antena1, Fenacerci2€24th2010Antena1, Fenacerci2€25th2011Antena1, Fenacerci2€26th2012Antena1, Fenacerci2€27th2013Antena1, Fenacerci2€28th2014Antena1, Fenacerci2€29th2015Antena1, Fenacerci, RTP+2€30th2016Antena1, Fenacerci, RTP+2€31st2017Antena1, Fenacerci, RTP+2€32nd2018Fenacerci, Antena1, RTP+2€33rd2019Fenacerci, Antena1, RTP+2€34th2021Fenacerci, Antena1, RTP+2€35th2022Fenacerci, Antena1, RTP+2€36th2023Fenacerci, Antena1, RTP+2€37th2024Fenacerci, Antena1, RTP+2.20€38th2025Fenacerci, Antena1, RTP+2.50€39th2026Fenacerci, Antena1, RTP+2,50€
Music 1993 – Pirilampo Mágico 93 (CD, SPA, 4 tracks) also includes themes from 1991, 1992 and an instrumental from 1993.Guest artists: Adelaide Ferreira, Ministars, Onda Choc, Popeline, Sandra & João.http://fonoteca.cm-lisboa.pt/cgi-bin/info3.pl?767&CD&0 1999 – Pirilampo Mágico 99 (CD, EMI – Valentim de Carvalho, 2 tracks) includes "O Pirilampo Mágico" and "Pirilampo rap".Guest artists: Carlos Ramon (autor), Pedro Magalhães, João Canto e Castro, António Machado, Miguel Velez.http://fonoteca.cm-lisboa.pt/cgi-bin/info3.pl?16358&CD&0 2006 – Hino do Pirilampo Mágico 2006 (CD) (20 anos do Pirilampo Mágico)Guest artists: Maria Ana Bobone (interpretação), Alexandre Honrado (letra) and Zé da Ponte (música e direcção).http://www.jn.pt/PaginaInicial/Interior.aspx?content_id=549287http://www.publico.pt/Sociedade/pirilampo-magico-hoje-a-venda-em-todo-o-pais-1256251
References
External links Fenacerci's official website (Federação Nacional de Cooperativas de Solidariedade Social) Official website of Pirilampo Mágico 2011 – 25 years History of Pirilampo Mágico