Labeling 2nd Generation Hispanics.

The role of reference groups in the decision making process is of great importance to marketers. If you understand how people make choices you can more affectively market towards them. In Korzenny and Korzenny’s Hispanic Marketing, the authors state that what Hispanics identify with is influenced by many sources, the main source being the group that they belong to growing up (p 68). Hispanic immigrants in America may still hold many of the same concepts they held in their hometowns. If they only speak Spanish and live in neighborhoods that don’t require the use of English in their everyday lives this can be even more evident. Understanding specifically what group these people belong to has been very important in advertising toward them, but the emergence of the 2nd generation Hispanic may change things. An important question marketers must be considering is, “How do we reach the children of immigrants?”

Recent trends in the United States show the growth of Hispanics shifting from immigration to births. By 2020 the number of 2nd generation Hispanics in American schools is expected double (Suro). This will give rise to a group of Americans that has strong ties with their Hispanic heritage, as well as new ideas of behavior. The Social Learning Theory suggests that people model their behavior after the people they are around (Korzenny p 63). Children being born into a family that possibly only speaks Spanish will have a different approach to certain situations. However, they will most likely attend school in English and have non-Hispanic white friends, which also will affect their approaches. This will make labeling Hispanics and finding out effective marketing strategies much more difficult.

As suggested in class, Hispanic children often act as a link between their parents and the American culture. This gives kids a lot more persuasion power when it comes to buying consumer products. Understanding what groups 2nd generation Hispanics identify with could be the future of Hispanic marketing. We know that certain American advertisements will not go over well with Hispanic Immigrants. For example, a 30 second commercial about life insurance won’t be enough to persuade Hispanics to buy it when they know their parents and grandparents didn’t have it. However, their child might ask their classmates about it and be able to explain the need for such services and convince them to look into it.
In a way children have opened the doors for their parents to explore some unique American products they would not have considered in their old reference group. They have also opened the doors for marketers to reach a new audience that has been overlooked by many marketing campaigns. Not only do they help guide their parents through decisions, they are getting older and are becoming a unique group unto themselves. As these bilingual, Hispanic-Americans get older and have families of their own marketers will be at a major disadvantage if they cannot penetrate this market.

Ted Greeley
Communications Undergrad
Florida State University

Works Cited

Korzenny, Felipe and Korzenny, Betty Ann. Hispanic Marketing: A Cultural Perspective. Burlington, MD. Elsevier Inc, 2005

Suro, Robert and Passel, Jeffrey S. The Rise of the Second Generation: Changing Patterns in Hispanic Population Growth. http://pewhispanic.org/files/reports/22.pdf, 2003