(Ad Age, July 19, 2011)
In the Netherlands, targeting people with ethnic minority backgrounds is often done in the Dutch language. In the US, the English language is often not used in ethnic marketing, certainly not when it comes to Hispanics. But maybe that’s about to change, as you can read below.
It has finally happened. According to none other than the distinguished Pew Hispanic Center, births have surpassed immigration as the main driver of growth in the U.S. Hispanic market. In other words, since 2000, the proverbial exponential growth in the Hispanic population has been (and will continue to be) mostly driven by kids born in the U.S. — a majority of whom are second generation — and not by the so-called unacculturated.
It’s no surprise. The Pew Center and others have been predicting this development for years. But it is likely to reignite what has been the subject of much debate. Or better said, hostility. The question of how a brand most effectively markets to Hispanics who were born in the U.S.
Until now, most of the discussion has focused on language. On one side have been those that argue in favor of Hispanic exceptionalism. The argument goes that Hispanics, unlike other immigrants to the U.S., have a unique relationship with their native tongue and that they will hold on to it longer than other immigrants. This point of view has been the darling of Univision, many Hispanic advertising agencies and, on the other side of the fence, some right-wing extremists like Samuel Huntington and Patrick Buchanan. The other argument is that the children of Latin-American immigrants will be either English dominant or bilingual, their grandchildren will be English dominant and their great-grandchildren will be English speaking “monoglots.”