The Over-Correction in Multicultural Marketing in 2021 & Beyond
July 10, 2021
Over the past couple of weeks several industry factors have come to light in advertising and media industries that could be detrimental to the continued growth and success of Hispanic Marketing & Media.
- The conversation of DE&I are framed around perceived injustices to African Americans, with basically a non-existent conversation regarding US Hispanics and other minority groups. Inclusion with exclusion.
- The majority of DE&I executives being hired in Corporate America are Black, thus possibly not helping to maintain a more equitable and balanced conversation. It seems there are not qualified Hispanic DE&I experts.
- Major Buying Services and ad agencies have publicly made statements about securing a certain percentage of their spending towards mostly Black owned and operated media entities or that is the perception. PR efforts to spend aginst minority owner media, disregard the importance of media that deliver Hispanic Audiences.
- Mainstream trade journals have deliberately focused on highlighting Black Marketing & Media executives in their webinars discussion on Multicultural Marketing, at the expense of Hispanics Executives and other minority groups. Trade journals that have not done the research, done their due diligence or are basically oblivious to the market realities.
- US Hispanic Marketing & Media entities are not being vocal about the over-correction and the potential effect on their respective industries, we are in the middle of the Perfect Storm. The ONUS is on Us.
The Multicultural Bucket concept, categorizes minority groups as a whole neatly from a marketing perspective in effort to equalize the importance of individual groups over one another and to highlight the similarities between the groups at the expense of the cultural & linguistic nuances that make them unique.
Especially disturbing, since the racial / ethnic composition of the so called Muticultural Bucket is:
US Hispanics: 48.9%
Blacks: 35.4%
Asians: 15.6%
TT 99.9%
Marketers, activists, media and Corporate America are cancelling the US Hispanic Marketing & Media opportunity conversation with Public Relations effort to be perceived as WOKE and social aware towards Black America. Marketing & Media.
Over the past year, there has been incredible amounts of damage done towards reinforcing the US Hispanic Consumer marketing and media opportunity.
Based on conversations and comments at these Multicultural webinars by leading Hispanic focused Marketing & Media executives, they have to push very hard to ensure that the over-correction in advertising spend and efforts towards US Hispanics is not lost in the conversations, to ensure a growth of total adspend and not a redistributions of ad dollars or efforts amongts The Bucket.
Is Diversity Overrated, download and read Hispanic Market Overview July 12, 2021.
This not a WIN/WIN.
Keep in mind that a +5% increase in ad spend in Hispanic Media and efforts is considered substantial, but a -5% decrease means people will lose their jobs, companies will have to determine if they can survive and the Industry is exponentially damaged. What if I used +10% or -10%, +15% or -15%? You get the picture.
We agree that more marketing & ad spend efforts and importance needs to be placed on all minority consumer groups, this is Marketing 101.
But, the conversation is not going in the appropriate direction.
The current conversation on Multicultural Marketing is riddled with a lack of facts and misinformation.
We cannot sit idly and watch others and our own Industry executives contribute towards conversations that are detrimental to the growth & opportunity of US Hispanic Consumers, marketing and media by their incorrect assertions and/or lack of challenging the notion.
We are at an important junction in the road for our Industry, sink or swim.
We submit to the industry at large three approaches THAT MUST occur:
- Demand that the Hispanic Marketing conversation MUST be extracted and defined separately from the Multicultural Bucket conversations, since we are the foundation and the dominant segment in the Bucket. ¡PUNTO!
- Correct the advertisers, so they clearly understand that we have less similarities and more difference due to language and culture than what is being portrayed to exist in the Multicultural Bucket approach.
- Hold mainstream trade journals accountable for their misinformation and deliberate ommission of US Hispanic advertising, merketing & media.
The ONUS is on us.
Gene Bryan
HispanicAD
