Influences on the Hispanic Consumer’s Behavior

I grew up in the same small town in northern Florida where I was born. It was where I lived most of my life, until I decided that I wanted to move away to go to college. I still chose a small town, but one on the eastern shore of Maryland about an hour outside of Washington D.C. It was a 16 hour drive, but a world away from where I grew up.

Living there the first year was a BIG adjustment. I did not think I would ever again experience such culture shock…and this place was within the United States. In fact, this place was still technically within the same region of the United States, the southeast, where I grew up. As I said, I had never experience such culture shock and then the next year I went to London.

Once again, this was a great shock that I underestimated because, I reasoned, this was an English speaking country that the United States originated from. How can it be that different? It was very different. I see now why people talk about the wide open spaces of the US. Everything there felt so tiny and crowded. Coming back to the United States I could not imagine ever feeling like a stranger in my own country again.

What I have found, over the years, is that every time I move or travel to a new place there is that sense of culture shock. In Felipe and Betty Ann Korzenny’s (2011) book, Hispanic Marketing, Connecting with the New Latino Consumer, the authors talk about the stages of culture shock as being,

(a) the honeymoon stage when migrating individuals are ecstatic to have accomplished their move to another culture ad have great expectations for the future; (b) the disintegration phase when reality starts to weigh on the individual and person realizes that one’s ways of behaving do not work in the new environment and h/she starts blaming him/herself for not doing well; (c) a reintegration state in which one comes to terms with the new reality and starts to become functional in the new setting but anger is externalized and blames on others in the host society; and (d)the autonomy stage in which a person creates a new and more balance perspective ad is able to more objectively deal with the host culture and is able to enjoy life while becoming increasingly functional in the new setting (20).

This portrayal of the stages of integration into a new culture carefully lays out a portrait of what the Hispanic immigrant experiences upon coming to the United States. The time an immigrant has been here, therefore, is less a factor than the stages of adjustment that they must experience in order to merge with their second culture.

Beyond culture shock, another factor influencing the incoming Hispanic’s adjustment to the United States is the willingness of the second, or host, culture to accept the incoming immigrant. Korzenny and Korzenny (2011) say of this,

Like most social processes, the adaptation to a new culture and the emergence of a new identity involve at least two parties. One is the contingent of Hispanics adapting as they become part of the host culture. The other is the host culture as adapting to a large and powerful incoming group (159).

This adaptation in many cases can be as painful for the host culture as it can be for the immigrant, especially in a time when immigration is a hot button topic in the media and political circles of the United States.

In fact, Korzenny and Korzenny speak of a mutual option for rejection on both the part of the immigrant and on the part of the second culture. Of this they state that the immigrant can initiate the rejection based on that fact that the host culture is too unlike their original culture (Korzenny & Korzenny, 2011, 167). Alternatively, the immigrant can aspire to be part of the host culture, but cannot because the, “…receiving culture may not welcome the immigrant as he or she may be perceived as having a different set of standards and behaviors,” (Korzenny & Korzenny, 2011, 167).

For an immigrant to fully integrate into a host society a new sense of self in the second culture must be formed. In rejecting or not openly accepting the immigrant, though, the society is simply reinforcing the uncertainty of the immigrant’s identity within the new host culture. Of this Korzenny and Korzenny say, “Ultimately the ambivalence of society reinforces the sense of a new identity. It becomes clear that they are not ‘from here and not from there’ anymore,” (159). This sense of marginalization will further alienate him or her from the host culture which can have detrimental consequences both to the immigrant and the host culture.

To better integrate the incoming immigrants, Thomas C. O’Guinn & Ronald J. Faber (1985) in their article, “Perspectives on Acculturation: The Relationship of General and Role Specific Acculturation with Hispanics’ Consumer Attitudes” emphasize that communication is the key saying, “Communication variables should be highly related to acculturation since the process of becoming acculturated is by definition accomplished through communication,” (115). They go on to state, Interpersonal communication with members of the host society allows immigrants to experience and learn the behavioral norms of the new culture. Media presentations can also convey the values and norms of the society which created them (Lasswell 1948). Gerson (1966), for example, has shown this to work in regard to learning dating behaviors from television. Thus by using the mass media of the dominant culture, the minority group member can learn culturally appropriate norms and behaviors (O’Guinn & Faber, 1985, 115).

Korzenny and Korzenny (2011) agree with this saying, “The marketing of many products and services to Hispanics is contributing to the building of capabilities in their second culture, while acknowledging the need to include elements of the first culture to maintain comfort level in this transition,” (165).

Thus the type of communication is important when targeting Hispanics. Biculturalism is becoming a more attractive option for many Hispanics who are transitioning to the United States. Korzenny and Korzenny (2011) explain this stating,

While many Latino immigrants wish to make the US their new home they maintain emotional and behavioral links with their country of origin. In addition, regardless of attempts to control undocumented immigration it is unlikely that it will stop completely and that, along with legal immigration, it continues to refresh the ranks of Latinos. Many communities become heavily Hispanic, and remaining Hispanic is increasingly easy and achievable. Still, most Hispanics understand very well hat their economic and social future depends on being able to success in US culture. Thus becoming bicultural becomes a most attractive outcome. (166).

To better communicate with bicultural individuals and recent immigrants, Korzenny and Korzenny (2011) warn that, “Communicating with groups of people who are in search of identity requires sensitivity to their needs in the duality and struggle for identity,” (168).

Traditionally Hispanic segmentation has been done by separating Spanish dominant Hispanics from transitional Hispanics from English dominant Hispanics (Korzenny & Korzenny, 2011, 169-170). The problem with this is that it assumes that the people have assimilated but does not take into account nuanced degrees of biculturalism (Korzenny and Korzenny, 2011, 169-170). While language is an important factor in marketing, other traits must also be taken into account. One example, from the Linda C. Ueltschy and Robert F. Krampf study, “The Influence of Acculturation on Advertising Effectiveness to the Hispanic Market” in 1997, the authors found that event he models used in advertising are as important as the language used (98). Of this, they state,

Within the limited scope of this study, it would appear that a marketer could effectively reach the highly acculturated Hispanics without tailoring the advertisement. When targeting the lowly acculturated and bicultural Hispanics, advertisers will have to decide whether recall or attitude toward the ad is more important since Anglo models are preferred by both groups but recall is higher with Hispanic models (Ueltschy & Krampf, 1997, 98).

Marketers must be aware when preparing communication materials that not only is language not the only determining factor in the success of a message, but also acculturation plays a large role.

Because of this marketers and, indeed, brands in the United States should have a vested interest in insuring the acculturation of incoming immigrants. Although right now with the political environment being so incendiary in relation to immigration questions, alienating or marginalizing this new and growing market segment is not longer and option for any brand that wishes to succeed long term. Just as I found culture shock within the bounds of my own country in moving to Maryland, just 16 hours from where I grew up, so too will brands experience a shock should they not adapt to the future commercial horizon of the United States where the Hispanic consumer will play a larger and larger role.

By Liz Vidal
Hispanic Marketing Communication
Florida State University

References

Korzenny, F., & Korzenny, B. A. (2011). Hispanic marketing, connecting with the new latino consumer. (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.

O’Guinn, T., & Faber, R. (1985). New perspectives on acculturation: the relationship of general and role specific acculturation with hispanics’ consumer attitudes. Advances in Consumer Research , 12, 113-117. Retrieved from http://www.acrwebsite.org/volumes/display.asp?id=6368>

Ueltschy, L., & Krampf , R. (1997). The influence of acculturation on advertising effectiveness to the hispanic market . Journal of Applied Business Research , 13(2), 87-102. Retrieved from http://cluteonline.com/journals/index.php/JABR/article/view/5764>