Is Hispanic Advertising Now Victim of a Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing?

By Louis Maldonado

Over the last month, data and research reports have validated the ongoing momentum of several trends about the U.S. Hispanic consumer audience. The common take-away? This segment continues to be the primary growth-driver across many business verticals, categories and brands. Perhaps most profound and compelling, a recent report from the UCLA Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture: If the U.S. Latino population were its own country, the GDP would be the world’s fifth largest, outpacing even the United Kingdom, France, and India. What’s more, out of the world’s top 10 largest GDPs, the U.S. Latino GDP would be the second-fastest growing from 2020 to 2021, second only to China. Additionally, the latest Claritas Hispanic Market report shows Latinos are adding 4,021 people per day to the U.S. population, offsetting population daily declines in the non-Hispanic White segment (-2,340) and far outpacing the gains in African American/Black and Asian/Pacific Islander segments, at 918 and 828 added per day, respectively. In short, the Latino purchasing power and consumerism is showing no signs of plateauing, let alone declining.

Other studies from Pew Research Center and the Hispanic Marketing Council have shown that Latino culture is central to the individual identities of Latinos across all age demos. What’s more, while the ability to speak Spanish does not define one’s Latinidad, the overwhelming majority (75%) of U.S. Latinos speak Spanish and feel it is important to preserve with future generations.

These points and many more were enthusiastically discussed at last week’s ANA Multicultural Conference, which we attended in Las Vegas, its 25th year of championing insightful and relevant marketing and advertising to America’s multicultural consumer segments. All presenters – including many of the world’s preeminent marketers – unanimously and enthusiastically spoke to the extreme importance of integrating cultural insights and authentic storytelling into their brand advertising and content. So why is it that, with all of this data, research and compelling corporate testimony – plus the prioritization of inclusivity and intentionality in marketing so that consumers feel “seen” and “heard” – a large number of brands are still cutting corners when it comes to Hispanic advertising? Many are increasingly reverting to using advertising creative with straight Spanish translations or blatantly using English ads with minimal or no cultural context or insight when the viewers have made the intentional decision to view programming that is deeply steeped in Latino culture and, yes, in Spanish. Below are some possible reasons I gleaned from some of the presentations and, more profoundly, hallway conversations.

• The quest for the holy grail of efficiencies, even at the expense of effectiveness, is still killing more insightful and culturally inspired advertising ideas; even ones that are proven to be more effective at fostering brand trust, loyalty and purchase intent.
• Mainstream America is reaching the multicultural tipping point, where Millennial and Gen Z cohorts are at least 50% multicultural, as are many of the populations of the country’s largest DMAs. To many brands, this means the way of going about 21st century marketing is to charge their mainstream agencies with developing campaigns that are diverse and inclusive in nature so that they also reach multicultural consumers, often just in English or through direct translations that lack cultural dexterity and emotion.
• There is an increasing concern over showcasing protagonists and storylines that represent any one multicultural consumer segment in a way that those from other segments cannot relate, thereby alienating them. The result tends to be ads that attempt to tap more universal insights and stories, often with diverse casts playing generic roles, which have already proven to not resonate as deeply with Latinos and other multicultural groups.
• There is a misguided belief that younger Latinos will not relate to – or may even be offended by – advertising that is not predominantly in English. This seems to be prompted by commentary in qualitative research or from younger Latinos on client/agency teams whose own lived experiences do not include frequent use of Spanish. Despite the above-mentioned reports that show 75% of all Latino adults speak Spanish, including 69% of all Latinos born in the U.S. and half of all Gen Z Hispanics, many brands are, unfortunately, choosing to act upon the more anecdotal information.

This all sounds a bit too familiar, no? Could this be the long-begrudged Total Market approach in sheep’s clothing? While many have officially proclaimed the Total Market approach as dead – to the extent that we intentionally avoid uttering those very words – could it still be alive and well, this time under the guise of 21st century, diverse and inclusive advertising?

Don’t get me wrong. There are several brands that have created very powerful, in-culture and in-language brand platforms, experiences, activations and longer form content that is best-in-class and very much inspired by Latino insights and executed in Spanish, Spanglish and English. Many of these campaigns were highlighted at the ANA Multicultural Awards and HPRA ¡Bravo! Awards, just this past week. But when it comes to advertising – the long-time workhorse of brand building – isn’t it ironic to see so many brands that learned from their mistakes made in the ‘70s and ‘80s repeating very similar errors 50 years later? This time, though, they are doing so despite the plethora of data and insights we now have at our fingertips; all supposedly in a quest for short-term, elusive efficiencies and over-hyped “consistency of message.” We have a saying for that in Spanish: ¡Lo barato sale caro! Or in English, penny wise, pound foolish!

Consumers can read a brand. They have a way of detecting the intentionality of a brand’s commitment or lack there-of, and have greater expectations from them, especially during these tumultuous times. Doing the due diligence to connect on consumers’ terms (language and culture) is paramount in modern marketing. Hispanic consumers have made their desires clear. Marketers that choose not to meet them on their terms shortchange the driving power of culture – whether in Spanish, English or Spanglish – and are really doing a disservice to the Hispanic consumer and to their brand. In doing so, they are likely leaving lots of money on the table.

About Author

Louis Maldonado is Partner and Managing Director at award-winning d expósito & Partners, an independent, women- and minority-owned agency specializing in multicultural advertising and communications.