Continental Confusion.

I don’t know who I am. People often ask; “where are you from?”. I say “I don’t even know. My mom is Colombian, my father was born in Spain, I was born in Miami but raised in Uruguay, my sister was born there and my grandparents are from Argentina and Portugal.” I look like I am from Alabama.

Throughout my life, I’ve been from a different country or continent at any given part of the day. When I am making my 509 mile trip from Tallahassee to Miami, I blast Gypsy Kings. There’s my Spain. Once I get to Miami, all I want to eat is a homemade Arepa for breakfast. Colombia? Check. Dinner comes around and you can bet all I want is a “churrazco a la parilla”. There’s the Argentina in me. When making my decisions as to where I want to eat, what CD I am going to buy or where my hair will get done, all the nationalities come into play and battle it out for the win.

These days, my life is highly Americanized. I attend college away from my family, I am president of my sorority (I am also one of the only Hispanic members), and I speak Spanish only during my daily phone call to my mama. Therefore, good ole’ USA usually wins. There are however, situations reserved for each of my other nationalities. For example, when I am going to get my hair done, I don’t go to where one of my sorority sisters got a good cut. American girls’ hair isn’t like mine.

Their hair is silky and smooth and behaves well. Mine on the other hand, is coarse and a bit schizophrenic. It has multiple personalities of its own. This means, I’ll probably refer to one of my Hispanic friends when looking for a good salon.
Awareness of this is an amazing benefit for marketers looking to reach Hispanics. If a salon that typically catered to Anglos advertised that they handle Hispanic hair well (of course, they’d have to find a more politically correct terminology), I might be inspired to go out and try it. I feel like this is true for almost any product or service.

Unfortunately in such a “politically sensitive marketplace” (Marketing, p24) this causes a Catch-22. How are marketers supposed to attract Hispanics without simultaneously offending them? This is an issue that has no clearly defined rules or lines. It’s a murky situation that my generation will hopefully begin to clear up. In the mean time, marketers will have to continue trial and error efforts at bringing in the Hispanic dollar.

As for me, I enjoy being a different me whenever it is appropriate. Truth is, I am not one thing. I am a product of immigration, a product of the American Dream, a product of a lot of Hispanic dreams and much more. Marketers have so many opportunities with people just like me. They just need to find the key to reaching us.

By Jovanna Gomez
Florisa State University

Sources
1. Hispanic Marketing: A Cultural Perspective. Felipe Korenny and Betty Ann Korzenny. Chapter 3.
2. Marketing Y Medios. What Marketers need to know About Latino Women. Susan Jaramillo. April 2005. p24
3. Amparo Gomez (My Mom!!) Phone Interview January 23, 2006.