Impact Of Hispanic Cultural Archetypes On Marketing.

Hispanics in the U.S. combine the emotional cultural connections they bring from their countries with U.S. mainstream culture to create their own unique cultural dimensions. Many of these cultural dimensions are subjective perception of life, values and beliefs that have been forged over time in their countries of origin and adopted by the communities where they originally came from. A very perceptive observation in the Korzenny and Korzenny book Hispanic Marketing (2005) is the definition of archetypes as ‘driving forces that come from inside the culture’ and stereotypes as ‘generalizations based on insufficient data imposed that outsiders impose on a group of people’. It is the responsibility of culturally erudite marketers to ascertain and uncover the relevant cultural shared insights or archetypes that can be used to tie the targeted consumer, in this case the Hispanic segment selected, to a product or service that is being marketed.

In order for marketers to uncover these relevant insights one can review many aspects of the culture that would reveal unique cultural insights of their target segment. I thought it would be very interesting to examine proverbs and ‘refranes’ [proverbs or sayings] in both the ‘American’ and the ‘Hispanic’ cultures that may reveal these unique cultural insights. I am defining the terms ‘American’ and ‘Hispanic’ very loosely, to include a multitude of ethnic variations for each group. With the ‘American’ culture, one has to consider many European traditions such as German, Irish, French, Swedish, Dutch, etc. With the ‘Hispanic’ culture, one has to consider the cultures of the individual Latin American countries and their cultural traditions (which may include ‘Spanish’, ‘Aztec’, ‘Inca’ and other Native American influences.

In doing research for this paper, there were many, many proverbs from different sources that, in order to do justice to the topic, much more time and effort would have been needed. Proverbs tell much about a people’s way of experiencing reality, about the proper or expected ways of doing things and about the values and beliefs of a culture. Traditionally, proverbs and “refranes’ have been short and easy to commit to memory for ready recall when the occasion calls for serious or humorous comment or admonition. Proverbs have been used by all levels of society and are a great accumulation of the mores and customs of a group of people. I took a few commonly used proverbs or ‘refranes’ on both sides of the continent and tried to formulate culturally acceptable, valid, logical and reasonable explanations of the cultural values they represent.

I choose proverbs and ‘refranes’ that dealt with similar subjects. The views expressed in some of the subjects was very similar but with minor cultural differences. “The early bird gets the worm” and “El que madruga, Dios le ayuda” [God helps those who get up early] both deal with the virtue of getting things done in a timely manner and getting up early to get things done before others. The cultural difference observed here is the Hispanic archetype of the worldview of unpredictability of life. In the Hispanic proverb things work according to God’s plan, and even though man can get up early to do the work, it is God that will help him in the end.

In comparing “Mas vale un hoy que diez mañanas” [One today is worth ten tomorrows] and “Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy and wise” one can see the cultural preference of the American preference for ‘doing’ versus the Hispanic ‘being’ as described in Kluckhohn and Strodbeck’s cultural framework of ‘Variations in Values Orientation.’ In a culture’s activity orientation, the doing culture emphasizes action, achievement and working. A being culture emphasizes enjoyment of life and working to live rather than living to work.

It was interesting to observe that in some cases the same subject was dealt with in diametrically opposed points of view. In “Distance makes the heart grow fonder” and “Amor de lejos es de pendejos” [Love from a distance is for fools] one can see the differences in point of view in considering the subject of long distance amorous relationships. I found many examples of differing points of view especially when dealing with children. “Children should be seen not heard” is a good example to illustrate the cultural view of how children are viewed in American society. On the other side are a few ‘refranes’ that indicate and exemplify the Hispanic archetype of the importance of children that are to be cherished and considered blessings that need to be loved and nurtured. Children command a great deal of attention and are encouraged to be part of the family. Some examples are: “Casa sin niños, tiesto sin flores” [House without children, flowerpot without flowers], “Los hijos son la riqueza del pobre” [Children are the wealth of the poor] y “Casa sin hijos, higuera sin higos” [Home without children, fig tree without figs]. Another example of differing cultural views of children and discipline is observed in the following proverb: “Spare the rod and spoil the child” versus “Hay que darle al niño malo, mas amor y menos palo” [One has to give the bad child more love and less punishment].

What are the implications for marketers? When preparing a marketing plan, marketers must keep in mind that Hispanics would have a very positive emotional response to many of the issues raised by these ‘refranes’ or proverbs that have also been identified as Hispanic cultural archetypes. There are still many potential unique cultural insights that can be gleaned from exploring the ‘refranes’ and proverbs of different Hispanic segments by country of origin. By examining the other popular expressions of a culture, such as poetry, musical lyrics, fairytales, jokes, and local legends, one can uncover relevant insights that marketers can use to design emotional links of their product to the population of the targeted segment. All these different manifestations can tell much about a people’s way of experiencing reality, about the proper or expected ways of doing things and about the values and beliefs of a culture. Once a particular cultural insight has been identified, the marketer can then formulate a media campaign that will facilitate the emotionally linking of the potential consumers to the product being advertised.

Eva Asher
Graduate Student at Florida State University
Hispanic Marketing Communication

Bibliography:
www.redargentinca.com/refranes
http://cogweb.ucla.edu/Discourse/Proverbs/Spanish-English.html
http://lonestar.rcclub.org/~jisassi/refranes2.html
http://refranes.dechile.net
http://www.arcom.net/belca/del_dicho/indice%20dichos.html
http://www.manythings.org/proverbs/