The pimps of Latino culture

Imagine for a moment that a major retailer decided to create a marketing campaign for everyone in the U.S. whose last name began with a “J.” Household income, education, age, gender, race and other demographic factors would not matter. The only unifying element in this group would be the first letter of each person’s last name. As absurd as this sounds, that is essentially what some marketers are doing when targeting Hispanics. In many cases, marketers are simply searching public records for Hispanic surnames and throwing together people with wildly divergent demographic characteristics to create a “market.”

So what’s the problem with this? At first glance, the worst fallout of this kind of marketing is poorly translated versions of English ads and telemarketing calls in Spanish to households where no one speaks the language. However, the ultimate effect of this kind of marketing can hurt every person in the U.S. with a Spanish surname. Let me explain.

When pressed, these “Hispanic marketing experts” will grudgingly acknowledge that Spanish-surnamed people differ significantly by country of origin and whether they are first-second-or-third generation in the U.S. However, these usually self-appointed experts are still fond of conjuring imaginary characteristics about all Latinos to justify lumping them all together anyway. The most threadbare of these clichés is that Hispanics are "devoted to their families." But there are more insidious ones. Here are just a few actual examples from self-proclaimed Hispanic marketing advisors:

“Hispanics tend to place less importance on time as a concept. This can be frustrating to many non-Hispanics who are used to a fast moving world and are constantly rushing and planning for the future.”

“Discussions with Hispanics tend to be more emotional and less rational. Understanding this will allow you to build powerful messages. Try touching their hearts first, not their heads.”

As a Latino, I find these generalization more than insulting. They hurt my chances in the business world. Would you do business with someone who is going to be perennially late, lethargic, overly emotional and illogical? Would you hire that person as an employee?

The best proof about the myth of Hispanic homogeneity is this: The majority of Hispanic-targeted marketing campaigns have been failures. All the same, these “Hispanic marketing experts” are trying more desperately than ever to sell their wares. So we can expect this sad trend to continue.

Freedom of speech is one of the wonderful guarantees the people of the United States enjoy. Our free enterprise system is another blessing. However, these rights and advantages should not be a license to pimp an entire ethnic group in order to make a buck.

Raul Ramos y Sanchez