The ideal language that reaches all Hispanics.

When it comes to targeting the Hispanic market, finding the right words, per se, is only part of the issue when creating an ad. Finding the right code is the bigger concern. While the question of whether to market to Hispanics in English or Spanish is quickly becoming one of the largest debates related to Hispanic marketing, there seems to be one answer that not only circumvents the problem, but it can relate to every U.S. Hispanic’s language preference, proficiency, and cultural experience. This answer is code switching, or as it is more commonly known, Spanglish. Although many marketers are fearful of venturing into this world because of the complexity of the code and their own lack of understanding, it is clear through research presented in Korzenny and Korzenny about language proficiency and the cultural bridge that Spanglish has built, that ads utilizing both codes will be more successful in reaching Hispanics, especially when targeting Hispanic youth.

Spanglish may be something completely new and untapped in the marketing world, but in other aspects of media, it is something that has been there since the 1970’s. One prime example of this was a television show entitled ¿Que Pasa USA? which portrayed an immigrant Cuban-American family consisting of grandparents, parents, and two teenaged children, as they adjusted to life in the U.S. This was the first bilingual show on television, which utilized all the aspects not only of Spanglish, but of a household that contains members with different proficiency levels of English. While the grandparents understood little to no English and primarily spoke Spanish, the teenagers were the opposite, and commonly had trouble communicating with the grandparents, which is where humor would come in. Although it was only on the air from 1976 to 1981, reruns can still be found today in large Hispanic markets, as a cult following of U.S. Hispanics fell in love with the show. The success of this show illustrates the fact that Spanglish along with cultural references can essentially win over the Hispanic Market.

Today, other media outlets are jumping on the Spanglish band wagon. For instance, Power 96, a typically English-language hip-hop radio station in Miami, will now have broadcasts in Spanglish, where the DJ’s exercise code-switching in their announcements and when callers are on-air. Also, radio stations in Miami which were characteristically Spanish-format now do both languages as well, as they have realized that by utilizing both languages, a more broad-range of Hispanics will listen.

Ads targeted to the U.S. Hispanic population should utilize Spanglish because this code connects culturally with more Hispanics than any other code would. Ads in Spanglish would not only be understood by both Hispanics primarily proficient in English and Spanish, but because Spanglish was created by the U.S. Hispanic population, it is a code that culturally connects with the target market. It is a code that only Hispanics understand, and is uniquely ours. Just as some Hispanics researched in Korzenny and Korzenny noted that they have an emotional connection with the Spanish language, U.S. Hispanics identify with Spanglish because it is something that we can only speak with other Hispanics. The same way that the English and Spanish languages have emotional connotations; words in Spanglish do, too. For older U.S. born Hispanics, it may remind them of their childhood when mom made arroz con pollo for their birthday and the kids who barely spoke Spanish in their homes ate it as if it was their favorite. Spanglish is also suggestive of the duality that U.S. Hispanics grow up with. We are never one, or the other; we are both.

Research in Hispanic Marketing: A Cultural Perspective (Korzenny and Korzenny) shows that almost 60% of Hispanics speak English very well, but that this does not mean that we should advertise to them in English-only ads. Although it seems that the majority of Hispanics understand English, there is still a large number that do not, and oftentimes, as testimony and research shows, the different proficiencies share the same household. The logical answer to this dilemma is to advertise in Spanglish, a code that all proficiencies will understand. An interesting perspective comes from Maylén Rafuls, a young, bilingual Cuban immigrant who lives with her Spanish-dominant grandmother and Spanish-dominant parents. She says that she would prefer to be advertised to in Spanglish, since she feels “patronized” when advertised to in Spanish, “as if we didn’t know English,” she says. As Korzenny and Korzenny say, Hispanics realize that it is important to know English, and according to Ms. Rafuls’s comments, marketers fail to realize that when advertising in Spanish. On the contrary, if marketers were to target Hispanics with English-only ads, people like Ms. Rafuls’s grandmother and her parents would not understand. By utilizing Spanglish, both parties win.

Korzenny and Korzenny also note that Anglo marketers fear the utilization of Spanglish ads because they themselves do not understand it, as well as the fact that they then enter the dilemma of where it is appropriate to publish bilingual ads. A temporary solution to this problem would be to utilize Hispanics to put the desired message into Spanglish code. Since Hispanics know the code best, it is only logical that they put the message into words that will resonate with the Hispanic population. At the same time, these Hispanics can get together with Anglo marketers and teach them the “rules” of Spanglish, and educate them on how to put their messages into Spanglish words themselves. Another suggestion would be for Anglo marketers to conduct qualitative research that will teach them all about Spanglish – its emergence, its use, etc. Marketers can conduct this research by observing Hispanics who commonly use Spanglish. Hopefully, through enough observation and education on the Spanglish code, marketers can become masters of the code and will use it to both their advantage and to the advantage of the Hispanic market itself.

The solution to the dilemma of culture and language in Hispanic marketing may not be as easy as presented in this paper, but it is an innovative perspective on a method of marketing that will relate to every U.S. Hispanic. Young and old, English dominant and Spanish dominant, all Hispanics can understand Spanglish, and even if they only understand half the ad, it is better than none of it at all. Of course, cultural references must be present in order to have a successful ad, but with the foundation of the Spanglish code, a huge cultural reference will already be at hand in every ad.

Dayelin Roman
3rd year Undergraduate
Majors: Media Production, Spanish
dr***@*su.edu

eferences:

Hispanic Marketing: A Cultural Perspective. Felipe Korzenny and Betty Ann Korzenny

¿Que Pasa USA? http://www.jumptheshark.com/q/quepasausa.htm

Interview with Maylen Rafuls, September 28, 2005