Nightmare in Rio

Culture shock slammed Greg Anderson hard and fast when the Los Angeles ad man arrived in Rio de Janeiro not knowing a word of Portuguese, but having to take orders from Brazilian executives. With Bossa Nova and "Girls from Ipanema" in near bare-all bikinis dancing in his head, he had believed the job offer from the largest and most innovative advertising agency in South America to be a creative man's dream of paradise. That illusion faded fast when coworkers resented his presence as being intrusive, the sweltering heat seemed insufferable, the food was strange and, for him, not appetizing, the seasons were turned around; Christmas was in summer, and then he encountered runaway inflation of local currency making the dollar-price of an escape ticket impossibly high.

Culture shock slammed Greg Anderson hard and fast when the Los Angeles ad man arrived in Rio de Janeiro not knowing a word of Portuguese, but having to take orders from Brazilian executives. With Bossa Nova and "Girls from Ipanema" in near bare-all bikinis dancing in his head, he had believed the job offer from the largest and most innovative advertising agency in South America to be a creative man's dream of paradise. That illusion faded fast when coworkers resented his workaholic dedication, and perceived his presence intrusive. The sweltering heat in offices without air conditioning seemed insufferable. The food was strange and, for him, not appetizing. Even the seasons were turned around; Christmas was in summer. On top of that, he had naively accepted being paid in the value-crashing Brazilian cruzeiro. A few months after his arrival a revolution erupted and, in a death-wish moment, he sought what was the center of action and maybe a part of history. That rash decision brought him within a trigger squeeze of death while staring down the barrel of an erratic soldier's rifle. But then life changed when he met a "Girl from Ipanema". That was when the dream of paradise turned to a nightmare of insanity...

Glen Kittelson grew up on a farm in South Dakota. After military duty in combat areas he entered Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles (now known as Cal Arts) which led to a career in advertising. Within three years after graduation he was winning local and national design and art director awards. An offer came to him to be an art director for the largest ad agency in South America located in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The fact it was considered the most creative ad agency in Latin America, and the lure of Copacabana and Ipanema, made the decision an easy one for the newly single thirty year-old. That impulsive move opened the door to twenty three years of professional growth, failures, adventure and successes through Brazil, Venezuela and Mexico. He is now a happily married man living in Southern California, with a son and grandsons in Texas and a step-son in Mexico.