Multicultural Advertising, a new concept for The Hispanic Market?

Before we can talk about multiple instances of it, we need to define what “culture is.” From the latin word colere, meaning “to cultivate,” the term has seen many different incarnations throughout time. Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohln compiled 164 definitions of “culture” in 1952 in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions.

As early as 45 B.C., Cicero spoke about the cultivation of the soul or “cultura animi” in his Tusculan Disputations, using an agricultural metaphor to refer to the development of a philosophical soul. However, the three most commonly used applications of the word are:

o Acquaintance with and taste in fine arts, humanities, and broad aspects of science as distinguished from vocational and technical skills.

o The integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations.

o The customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group; also : the characteristic features of everyday existence (as diversions or a way of life) shared by people in a place or time.

The last two examples refer to what happens in human socialization in relatively homogeneous environments, as would to people from the same country. For example, all the particular idiosyncratic nuances that are present in say, the Mexican born immigrant in the U.S. who may share some commonalities with a U.S. born Mexican-American, like language and food, or the love for soccer. But, the similarities may end there.

Now add into the mixture another 20 unique sets of preferences, goals and values, and what comes out? The U.S. Hispanic …

Interestingly a group or culture that has been thought of, and addressed, as if it were homogeneous until recently. Why? Let’s look at the two main sources of information regarding this group, the U.S. government and the U.S. Census.

According to the The Pew Hispanic Center, the government uses two methods to define who is Hispanic or Latino. Both are products of a 1976 act of Congress that passed the only law in this country’s history that mandated the collection and analysis of data for a specific ethnic group: “Americans of Spanish origin or descent.”

One approach defines a Hispanic or Latino as a member of an ethnic group that traces its roots to 20 Spanish-speaking nations from Latin America and Spain itself.

The other approach is much simpler. Who’s Hispanic? Anyone who says they are. And nobody who says they aren’t.

The U.S. Census Bureau uses this second method. Here’s a quick compilation done by The Pew Center on how it works.

Q. I immigrated to Phoenix from Mexico. Am I Hispanic?
A. You are if you say so.

Q. My parents moved to New York from Puerto Rico. Am I Hispanic?
A. You are if you say so.

Q. My mom is from Chile and my dad is from Iowa. I was born in Des Moines. Am I Hispanic?
A. You are if you say so.

Q. I was born in Argentina but grew up in Texas. I don’t consider myself Hispanic. Does the Census count me as a Hispanic?
A. Not if you say you aren’t.

Using this criteria for defining a group of people that belong together, essentially a “culture,” is like painting a sunset with a broad brush and only black and white colors, and could lead to the belief that Hispanics are a homogeneous group.

However, when it comes to advertising, connecting with the Hispanic consumer in a relevant way, finding what these cultures do have in common, has always been a multicultural task.

BY Juan Aceves, Audio Engineer for Sound Lounge