Everyday is a New Day.

Walking down the street a young 17-year-old wears a medallion of La Virgencita de Guadalupe, the patron of Mexico. Two blocks down in the same neighborhood, a stereo fills a house with Latin beats in the celebration of the neighbor’s daughter’s 15th birthday. On Nov. 2, families get together to visit the graves of their relatives with flowers to remember and honor them. Quinceañeras, big weddings, Semana Santa and Dia de los Difuntos are just a few examples of how much value life, religion, happiness and death has on Hispanics.

Happiness, religion and death are archetypes found in the Hispanic culture. Archetypes are defined as “the original pattern or model of which all things of the same type are representations or copies.” Hispanic marketers face a variety of different archetypes that the Hispanic population takes as reference, and therefore they also face a challenge when attempting to properly incorporate emotive themes on their marketing strategies.

For instance, Bienvenida Nicholson, a Panamanian immigrant, and her husband have a daughter named Kathy. Kathy is a typical Latina-Americanized girl, who speaks some broken up Spanish but is proud of her Latino heritage. Bienvenida believes that “there is no point in saving up more than necessary, we need to live life to the fullest. If we do not know what the future will bring, then what is the point in having all this money if we can’t enjoy it?” When Kathy turned 15, the family traveled back to Panama to throw her a proper quinceañeras with damas and caballeros, and the entire neighborhood. “I wanted my daughter to have a real quinceañeras, meet her family and enjoy every moment of being alive. I thank God for the opportunity.”

Nicholson is just one of millions of examples of Hispanics that value these archetypes. According to a Report done by AdFlorida Advertising, “family, socializing with friends, happiness and festive events are important in the Hispanic culture and the family, as a group, is usually a high priority.

Instead of price, the following motivators prevail in choosing new products and services: peer conformity, improving quality of life and product quality.”
The broad sense of fatalism in the Hispanic culture makes the Hispanics treasure each day as it comes. Catholic religion and patron saints are a very important aspect of the Hispanic culture. “About 93 percent of all Latin-Americans, coming from 22 countries, self-identify as Christian. Of the foreign-born Latinos in the U.S., 74 percent identify themselves as Catholic, while 18 percent consider themselves Protestant or non-Catholic.” Paying tribute to these saints for performing miracles, praying every night, and carrying medallions are common in the every day life of Hispanics.

While Americans are concerned with saving for the future retirement, paying for mortgage and planning everything, Hispanics are most likely to live life by the moment and to the fullest. Even though some Hispanics might save up for events such as quinceañeras or weddings, the most important thing is celebrating to the fullest each moment. Marketers should understand this and aim to target images of happiness instead of images like sad futures and savings. Like the popular Hispanic saying goes “you never know what may happen tomorrow.”

Monica Martinez
Florida Sate University

Merriam-Webster Dictionary Online. Word: Archetypes. 2005-2006. http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/
archetypal>. February 14, 2006.
Report: The Hispanic-American Market. AdFlorida Advertising. 2002. < http://www.adflorida.com/article/ articlestatic/80/>. February 15, 2006.
Murray, Bruce. Latino Religion in the U.S.: Demographic Shifts and Trends. FacsNet Web site. Jan. 2006. < http://www.facsnet.org/issues/faith/espinosa.php>. February 15, 2006.