Return to Home Page ADVERTISING TO THE U. S. HISPANIC MARKET: MYTHS AND REALITIES Paul Herbig ADVERTISING TO THE U. S. HISPANIC MARKET: MYTHS AND REALITIES ABSTRACT Hispanics have been the focus of marketers' attention as a major ethnic segment since the early 1980s. The size of the Hispanic segment has grown substantially from then till now. Even though it has been obvious in the recent years that "the Hispanic market" is not as generic as it appears to be, advertisers seem to be ignoring the intra–cultural differences among the Hispanics. Additionally, there exist income–related, education–related, occupation–related, and area of residence in the United States–related differences within the Hispanic segment. The purpose of this paper is to describe the demographics of Hispanics, enunciate differences within the segment on the basis of country of origin as well as social class factors, and provide strategy recommendations for advertisers to reach this segment. Introduction In the constant search for new markets, businesses have diverted their attention to marketing to consumers of diverse cultures and subcultures (Valencia 1984; Winsberg 1994; Galceran and Berry 1995). The Hispanic market has become one of the most visible and growing groups that advertisers have become aware of in the recent past and is considered one of the largest ethnic subcultures in the United States. The Spanish language is considered the primary motivating factor behind Hispanic marketing. Strategy Research Corporation in Miami indicates the 1994 population of 23.5 million U.S. Hispanics spent about $206 billion and represents the nation's fastest-growing minority. Although many Hispanics have been living in the United States for several years, most of them retain their subcultural identities (Valencia 1984; Winsberg 1994; Galceran and Berry 1995). According to Nielsen, 36% of the 26 million Hispanics are primarily English speaking, 15% bilingual, the remainder primarily Spanish. The over 4 million Latinos in Southern California account for 37% of the region’s populaiton and 73% of them read only Spanish or read Spanish better than English. In this paper, the Hispanics will be described with a special focus on advertising to this segment. Specifically, the objective is to show that contemporary American corporations have become increasingly aware of the fact that the Hispanic market is growing and changing, and provides a vital and necessary marketplace for a wide variety of products. In addition, due to their growing numbers, the Hispanics have significant buying power. As a consequence, the attitudes, beliefs and behaviors of Hispanics and other Hispanic cultural modifiers have had a substantial impact on the way advertisers have changed their strategies in order to more effectively serve this unique and strong market. As the literature suggests, the Hispanic segment is one that has been focussed on extensively in the recent past by marketers. The rapid growth of the Hispanic market is one of its most evident characteristics. Although there are large clusters of Hispanics in most major urban areas, the Southwest and Western part of the United States holds the largest concentration of Hispanics. In general, the ethnic background of a given population affects the consumption habits of many population clusters. For instance, one author noted that Hispanics spend more on food than other segments, and are also more likely to spend money on home remedies (Weiss 1988, p. 128–9). Who Are the Hispanics? Population Since the 1970s, the Hispanic population in the United States has increased over 60 percent. The 1994 census estimated the U.S. Hispanic population at 25.5 million. This amount comprises 9.8 percent of the total population of the United States (Fisher 1994, p. S1). One of the most apparent attributes regarding the growth of the Hispanic population is its high rate of fertility. U. S. Hispanics are a relatively high rate of fertility. Mexican–American women had the highest fertility rate of all ethnic groups (111.3 per 1000). In fact, Mexican–American females average about three births each, compared to 2.4 births for blacks and 1.7 for whites. Twenty-seven percent of Hispanic households have five or more people, compared with 11 percent for the general population. Hispanic families tend to be larger, on average 3.8 people per family compared with national median of 3.1. U. S. Hispanics are a relatively young population, with a median age in 1980 of twenty-three compared to thirty one for non–Hispanics.This clearly suggests that the Hispanic segment will be the fastest–growing population group throughout the next several decades (Hispanics 1994, p.17); during the 1990s, they will account for 40 percent of the U.S. population growth. The U. S. Census Bureau projects that by the year 2000, there will be at least twice as many Hispanics in the United States as were estimated in the late 1980s. The Bureau projects that by the year 2010, Hispanics will surpass African–Americans as the largest U. S. minority group (Fisher 1994, p. S1). By the year 2030, the estimate rises to four times the present size, and by 2080, at least nine times greater (Exter 1987, p. 38). Income Also, according to Exter (1987) contrary to the perception that Hispanics are impoverished immigrants, this segment has actually become significantly affluent since the 1970s. This rise to affluence from medium–incomes occurred within the decade of 1980s. Recent figures show an average household income of $28, 872 for Hispanics (Fisher 1994, p. S1), compared to $38,000 for the general population, though income levels of Cuban Amerifcans (36,000) are nearly comparable to the rest of the population. Over one million Hispanic households in the United States have incomes exceeding $50,000. This increase in wealth among Hispanics is important for advertising for corporate perceptions because their purchasing behavior guide and emphasize much of the national marketing regarding product and pricing strategy. In fact, Hispanic households are quite similar to other affluent groups, but have several major differences. For instance, Hispanics often achieve greater wealth because they have more than one paycheck within a family structure. Hispanic households, though, tend to be much larger than white households, and this holds true for the affluent as well as the less wealthy. Statistics show that 78 percent of affluent households include three or more people, compared with only 61 percent of white households. One–third of white households contain just two people, and 6 percent of affluent Hispanic household" (O'Hare 1990, p. 40). Language Hispanic Americans are more likely to speak Spanish at home than they were in earlier times; Seventy percent of Hispanics spoke Spanish at home in 1992 compared to just 57 percent in 1988, according to MONITOR. The majority of Spanish speaking consumers continue to speak in native tongue, only 11.4% of Hispanics are comfortable speaking English, most are yet unassimilated into the American culture. In fact, not only are they unassimilated, they have actively resisted assimilation. The same survey found that 72 percent of Hispanic-Americans were born outside of the U.S. and 40 percent of nonnative Hispanics have been in the country for less than ten years. However, not all Hispanics speak Spanish: 30 percent do not speak it as their primary language at home (Braus, 1994). Spanish-language television and radio stations are a high growth market. However, Spanish is not uniform. Differences in dialect exist between the Mexican-Americans in Los Angeles, the Cuban-Americans in Miami, and the Puerto Ricans in New York. This has been one of major mistakes marketers have made in marketing to Hispanics, trying to adapt marketing strategies that have been successful with an Hispanic sub-group to other Hispanic groups (Livingston, 1992). Concentration of Hispanics in the U. S. Hispanic Americans seem to be more concentrated in metropolitan areas, where 88 percent of the them live (Russell 1983, p.20). It is also important to note that many locations in which U. S. Hispanics are located have an effect on marketing strategies from American businesses. There are 46 metropolitan areas in the U. S. that are more that 10 percent Hispanic, of which 17 are located in Texas and another 17 are located in California. In four of the Texan metropolitan cities Hispanics are the majority population: Brownsville–Harlingen–San Benito, El Paso, Laredo, and McAllen–Pharr–Edinburg (Russell 1983, p. 24). In many areas of the country, Hispanics can live entirely in Spanish. Affluent Hispanics, the subgroup that marketers are paying increasing attention to, are at least 50 percent more likely than whites are to live in large metropolitan areas. A full 33 percent of affluent Hispanics live in urban areas that have a total population of one million or greater ( a majority of them live in Los Angeles, CA). In addition, Hispanics own nearly 250.000 American businesses, with the trend continuing to rise along with their population figures. Although concentrated in major metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles, Miami, New York, and San Antonio, Hispanic businesses own around 32 percent of the total number of U. S. businesses (O'Hare 1987; Russell 1983). Perceptions of the Hispanic Segment Market trends and demographic changes, clearly point to a continuing change in the perception of the Hispanic market. As of 1994, the Hispanic market is estimated to have at least $206 billion in consumer spending power, and the growth rate of the population, family orientation, language, and geographic concentration tend to make the market somewhat unique. According to Russell (1983), with the rising education, job status and income of Hispanics, this segment will hold the attention of U. S. businesses for several years to come. US companies’ spending on advertising on Hispanic TV rose 22% from 1994 to 1995, even more predicted for 1996 (over $1 billion). AT&T signed the Major League Soccer circuit to a $8 million contract as a Hispanic marketing vehicle with television ads. However, besides growth patterns and language differences, American businesses are gradually turning toward a policy that not only treats the entire Hispanic market as a whole but directs, produces, and targets messages to segments of the market: for instance, the Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, or other specific Hispanics. Since the majority of Hispanics buy products that are considered to be in the mainstream, there seem to be good business decisions to place a limited element of Hispanic culture into nationally aired English language advertisements or to air duplicate advertisements in Spanish on the stations. Additionally, the geographic concentrations of Hispanics tend to contribute to the advertiser's belief that it is attractive to segment the market. There is also the additional question about whether advertisers should target the Mexican or Cuban market as opposed to the more generalized Hispanic market. Although Hispanics of Mexican origin are the largest and most diverse Hispanic group with a total purchasing power close to $206 billion, lifestyles and shopping patterns vary considerably among other sub–groups of the population. A study by Texas Technical University found that the Mexican American shoppers were often "economically motivated," as opposed to those forms of motivation apparent with other groups. Instead of being influenced by fads, advertisements, or packaging, they were more careful about price, value, quality of merchandise, and the perceived usefulness of the product. This study, in fact, "suggests that marketing to Mexican Americans as a single group, rather than further segmenting them by region, should be done with caution (Valencia 1983, p. 19)". The problems about marketing to Hispanics seem to be rooted in more traditional white cultural patterns. Historically, American views of Hispanics have been influenced by traditions that go as far back as English–Spanish conflicts in the sixteenth century. According to Moore (1985), stereotypes were developed during the Mexican American war. Unfortunately, some of these perceptions seem to creep into some advertising using Hispanic themes. In fact, for more than 50 years, a long series of public opinion polls have reflected somewhat "distasteful" images of persons of Hispanic descent. This is in direct contrast with the changing way Hispanics see themselves. One approach to this problem is Hispanics taking charge of their own brand of self– actualization by changing the way they prefer to be called. Instead of the more generic for m of addressing them as "Hispanics" most prefer to be addressed as Mexican–American, Latin American or Chicano. They view themselves as distinctive groups of people rather than a large generic segment (Moore 1985, p. 5). Hispanic Portrayal in Advertisements Print media and television appear to be two ways that advertisers tend to reach the Hispanic market. Within these areas of concentration, print media has less of an impact, whether the media be in English or in Spanish, but television appears to be one of the best ways to reach the Hispanic consumer, particularly in the areas mentioned above. Reasons for using television vary, but the fact is that in most of the areas that have high concentration of Hispanics, Spanish language television stations and programs thrive (Russell 1983, p. 20–1). TV and radio advertising are popular with Lations because media often are not available to them in theri home countries. Telemundo reaches about 86% of all Hispanic TV households in 53 U.S. markets and syndicates its programming abroad; 35% of programming is produced in U.S. Its only competitor, Univision, reaches 92% of U.S. HIspanic households. Spanish speakers equipped with an ad in their native language are more confident consumers, able to locate the American product or service they seek. It was not until the past few decades that American businesses began actively taking the lead in insuring that Hispanics, blacks, and other minorities were portrayed positively within advertising and other forms of the media. Historically, the Hispanics had the same types of problems with the advertising as they tended to have with motion picture images. For example, in the 1920s and the 1930s, Hispanics were often portrayed as both vicious and funny banditos but were gradually replaced by more complex characterizations such as the role of Katy Jurado in High Noon and Maria in West Side Story (Weyr 1988, p.10). Likewise, from the earliest days, Hispanics have suffered in the mass media. One study, on the coverage of Mexican–American affairs by The New York Times showed that Hispanics were virtually neglected from 1951 to 1958, and from 1958 to 1964 focused on Hispanic poverty. After 1964, however, the newspaper began to see the Mexican organizations as active agents striving for broader, more increased, social change (Olson 1975, p.91). Changes in the way most media tend to view Hispanics has certainly come a long way in the past few decades. Although stereotypes are not as rampant as they were in the past years, there is increasing attention to the marketing needs of the Hispanic market. One cannot but help but wonder if the advertiser's decision to more positively portray Hispanics is due in part, to their increased visibility and buying power within the broader social structure of the United States. For the American advertiser, the portrayal of Hispanics has strong tactical and strategic implications. From a strategic point of view, the advertiser must decide whether to place advertising in general magazines or ethnic publications. A study found several interesting factors about the portrayal of Hispanics in television advertising. Within these advertisements, Hispanics were judged to have been portrayed as a unique ethnic group only as part of large groups, and only rarely as individuals (Wilkes 1989, p. 20). Hispanics were also not judged to be too important within advertisements. In the majority of commercials, they were included only in background roles and received little individual importance to either the commercial or the product. Of the total number of commercials in which Hispanics were clearly identified, they were found more often in commercials for food products, entertainment (movies or shows), alcohol, and furniture (Wilkes 1989, p. 23). The increased role of media also has serious repercussions in their portrayal of Hispanics. The mass media not only shows the Hispanics about the American society, it also shows the American society about the Hispanic culture (Farber 1989, p. 156). In recent years, increased attention has been devoted to the acculturization and assimilations of the Hispanic population in the United States, due primarily to the rapid growth and size of this grouping. Through the media, several studies resulted in somewhat unflattering results regarding Hispanic portrayals in advertising. One study of three seasons of network television from 1975 to 1978 (Greenberg and Baptista–Fernandez 1980) found that Hispanic characters accounted for less than two percent of all speaking roles. The percentage greatly under–represents the actual Hispanic proportion of the total population. Additionally, Hispanic characters were typically shown in minor unimportant roles. Usually, they were stereotyped in comic roles and /or roles of law enforcers or criminals. Hispanic females were almost non–existent on television. Portrayals in newspapers were not much better either (Faber et al. 1987). The later 1970s and the early 1980s however, brought significant changes to the portrayals of Hispanics within advertising. Hispanics were given some central roles, and were moved from group scenes to scenes of everyday life and social affairs (Faber et al. 1987). Besides, the considerations about the way Hispanics are portrayed in advertisements, it must be noted that Hispanics tend to look at things differently than white groups. For example, both Blacks and Hispanics have historically been portrayed as using newspapers for advertisements and entertainment rather than for information and education as do whites. Race is not a very meaningful predictor of what print media is appropriate for each group. Hispanics notice the portrayal of their own ethnic groups, whether those be in print media or television. Even though Hispanics have been thought of as primarily an "oral" culture, relying on interpersonal communication rather than media for information, the demographics support the notion that advertising as an informational source does not go unnoticed by the majority of Hispanic viewers/readers (Burgoon 1987, p. 49). Although there are clear changes in the ways Hispanics have been, and continue to be portrayed in advertising, advertisers have been forced to pay additional attention to subtle, yet powerful cultural images. Instead of marketing the image if the tricky evil Hispanic bandito, advertisers tended to group Hispanics together as families. Moving from the notion of the large family, advertisers are now more aware than ever that a market that has the potential to spend over $200 billion dollars must be carefully tracked, portrayed and responded to. While some forms of entertainment still show Hispanic stereotypes, television programs like L. A. Law and many of the recent popular motion pictures have regular Hispanic characters that are both vital to the plot of the story and positive role models. This shows a willingness by the public to accept stereotypes and the media's desire to portray ethnic minorities in a positive light. Fox produced House of Buggin, the first product of its Hispanic programming division; its cast and host are largely Latino. Appeals and Tactics of Advertisers It has become clear that there is a great deal of ethnic diversity within the Hispanic culture. Each language segment of the Hispanic population makes different shopping and purchasing decisions, has different patterns of TV viewing, radio listening, and newspaper or magazine reading, holds distinct and different family values and attitudes, and has widely different brand loyalties. Advertisers must learn to differentiate and to talk to the Hispanic population in their particular market area in the dialect and style appropriate to that area. For example, Mexicans play and are loyal followers of soccer while Cuban and Puerto Ricans are avid baseball fans. Hispanic promotion for Surf detergent using baseball themes, activites at Little League parks and demonstrations at discount stores nation wide. This diversity had been previously ignored by advertisers, but has become an important attribute in their strategies toward Hispanic consumption. One way that advertisers tend to appeal to cultural values in terms of Hispanic audience is to use Spanish language as the mode of communication in certain types of ads. The language provides a common bond of communication between various subgroups of Hispanic citizens. However, it should be noted that more affluent the Hispanic consumers, the less likely they are to significantly identify with non–English advertising medium. Therefore, strong versus weak ethnic identification of specific Hispanic groups must be taken into account when creating advertisements for this target market. Thus, advertisers are selective in the types of advertising for a very specific set of products (Deshpande et al. 1986, p. 215). Hispanics tend to place a great deal of reliance on particular types of commercial information such as advertising, and those members of the culture that strongly identify themselves as Hispanics seem more likely to have a positive attitude toward any advertising with a Hispanic theme (Deshpande et al. 1986). Several research projects have noted that Hispanics tend to use nationally advertised brands. There is a strong indication that those who are strongly identified as Hispanics are more likely to be loyal to specific brands, buy prestigious products, and buy products advertised directly toward their ethnic group (Guernica 1982, p. 101). An important component in any advertising strategy either aimed toward or proposed to be accepted in the Hispanic market in general, needs to take ethnicity into consideration when marketing the product. Advertisers seem to be able to insure greater success with a variety of products by developing programs that focus on traditional Hispanic values, and can be expected to win over a significant segment of the Hispanic population because of brand–loyalty, identification with certain advertising schemes, and the desire to purchase certain types of products that many Hispanics to help establish a barometer of success (Deshpande 1986, 217–9). As American culture becomes more diverse, however, it is also important for advertisers to understand the way Hispanics use informational and media sources. Hispanics are now able to buy more quality products due to the increase in their levels of income, and their integration into American culture. Combined with more Spanish language media availability, advertisers must form critical strategies in order to place their products in an advantageous light (Delener 1990, p.46). Hispanics use multiple media for both their informational and purchasing needs. They prefer television which is generally in line with the rest of the U. S. population. Hispanics watch more TV than general popluation: average 3.6 hours versus 3.2 hours for weekdays for non-Hispanics. They also tend to have a higher usage ratio, and about 70 percent use it for entertainment purposes. Hispanics also rank high in groups that use five or more magazines per week for information (29.2 percent) and 60 percent use the newspaper. A total of 40.3 percent listen to an average of 13 hours of radio per day, and 37.8 percent view more than 50 total hours of television per week (Delener 1990, p. 46). Other research shows that the majority of Hispanics and a significant number of consumers prefer advertising in Spanish–language publications. Hispanics who watch only Spanish–language television are much more likely to have been born outside the united States, be over 30, and have lower annual incomes. This would seem to indicate somewhat of a separation into two contrasting groups for the advertisers. The majority of the Hispanic population is still medium income and below, and those Hispanics tend to use Spanish–language media as an important part of their daily lives. For this group, it is important to use advertising in Spanish, or advertising that portrays Hispanics in their daily activities and situations. For the more affluent Hispanics however, Spanish–language media is not as important, and may in some cases even be resented. This group tends to identify more with general advertising, and although there may be limited ethnic consciousness present within the groups of affluent Hispanics, they are more likely to accept advertising that is not necessarily ethnically specific. When tested, both income and educational variables stand out as being paramount in importance for Hispanics viewed in context with Spanish–language media. Approximately 53 percent of those surveyed consider themselves heavy radio listeners, and listen to the radio more than three hours per day. Overall, 32.7 percent prefer Spanish–language radio as their station of choice, and 22 percent prefer Spanish–language media. Approximately 53 percent of those surveys consider themselves heavy radio listeners, and listen to the radio more than three hours per day. Overall, 32.7 percent prefer Spanish–language radio as their station of choice, and 22 percent prefer Spanish–language television (Faber 1986, p. 352). However, despite some ethnic differences in the specific attributes of overall income and educational level, another pattern emerges. This pattern shows that many who use Spanish language media do not seem to have any clear language preference in other situations. People who preferred Spanish language television, however also preferred to read and conduct business in Spanish. Although language preference at home seemed unrelated to using Spanish language television, this one–third grouping of Hispanics tend to have strong traditional orientation, and may be less likely to establish outside cultural ties than other Hispanics (Faber 1986, p. 355–6). For advertisers, this research provides the basis for advertisers to develop strategies that follow the demographic changes in the Hispanic market. As previously mentioned, since the groups that tend to be more closely identified as Hispanic tend to focus more on Spanish–language media, the advertising strategy seems to place more emphasis on targeting specific groups of products for specific types of media. For those who prefer Spanish language media, advertisers tend to concentrate on food, personal care, and appliance items, hoping to establish brand loyalty and product identification. In marketing to Hispanics in the more affluent areas or in more affluent publications, the strategy seems to be more subtle. For instance, some advertisers simply include Blacks, Orientals, and Hispanics as part of the regular advertisement, sometimes in central roles, sometimes in background roles. nevertheless, advertisers have been severely criticized for focusing on ethnic differences in the marketing of certain stereotypes that could be perceived as negative (Wilkes 1989, p.19). Creating generic ad and appealing to all segments of the Hispanic market can be difficult. A recent commercial for Prego spaghetti sauce featured a father and son, alone in the kitchen, preparing dinner. The Hispanic version had the entire family pictured in the kitchen. Regional companies have advantage, usually targeting one specific Hispanic group.Florida’s Publix supermarket chain highly successful media campaign targeted at Cuban Americans: The ad, accompanied by Hispanic rhythms, featured shoppers loading their grocery carts with tropical fruits and interspersed shots of expansive blue skies, palm trees, and pastel motifs associated with the Caribbean.Tianguis, Los Angeles grocery chain, had fiesta-like atmosphere to attract its predominantly Mexican-American clientele. However, fundamental similarities that exist among all Hispanics can provide national road. A Pepsi ad for its Pepsi generation theme, took place at quinceanera, sweet 15 party, coming of age for Hispanic girls.See’s Candies took a family oriented approach., entire family sharing a box. Hispanics have traditionally been fiercely brand loyal. They are willing to pay extra to purchase quality products for their family. Hispanic immigrants generally gravitate to brands they knew in their native country: Colgate toothpaste holds a 70 percent market share due to its dominance in Latin America. However, Crest, though holding only 15 percent of new immigrants, has nearly twice as many of the acculturated Hispanics. Coupons may not be useful in marketing to foreign born Hispanics because the concept of coupons does not exist in many parts of Latin America.A better way is in store promotions and samples. Hispanics spend more than white non-Hispanics and Afro-Americans on food. They tend to eat at home more, in home food preparation tends to be higher. They are, likewise, greater users of telephone services as well ($661 average in 1990, $61 more than white Non-Hispanics).sponsoring community programs: Anheuser Busch, Campbell and Coca-Cola were among the sponors of Carnival Miami. Marketers have committed innumerable blunders in the past in their eagerness to reach specific segments that hold a lot of potential. For example, when the ads for Chevrolet Nova were made for the Spanish media, it meant no–va or "doesn't go" in Spanish and an American toothpaste promised its customers (in Spanish) that they would be more "interesting" if they used the firm's toothpaste, unfortunately "interesting" is an euphemism for being pregnant in some dialects of Spanish (Ricks 1992; Valencia 1984). Braniff tried to position itself as the luxurious airline by declaring that their passengers would "fly in leather." The phrase was literally translated into Spanish as vuele en cuero. Unfortunately, the word cuero is a colloquial expression for "in the raw," or naked. Hence, it is usually not a good idea to simply translate English ads into Spanish. Finally, it is important for marketers to take note of the different Spanish dialects when advertising to the generic "Hispanic market" as a whole. Over twenty Spanish-speaking nationalities make up the U.S. Hispanic population and each has its own national holidays, cultural characteristics, foods, traditions, and values (Livingston, 1992). The marketer is well advised to distinguish between the subcultural differences among the major Hispanic groups (such as Mexican, Cuban or Puerto–Rican) (Valencia 1984). For example, Tang, the instant breakfast drink, billed itself as jugo de china, which is the Puerto rican idiom for orange juice. But to all other Hispanics, the phrase was meaningless; jugo de naranja—the juice of oranges— would have been a better generic choice. The word for peanut butter is mantequilla de mani for Hispanics from the Caribbean and crema de cacahuate for those from Mexico. Saturn learned the hard way that there are differences in dialect (Zbar, 1995). Countless other examples abound for the unweary marketer. Nevertheless, Frito Lay treats Hispanic-Americans as a single market because the company tries to project a consistent national image. It advertises on Spanish language television and local advertisements occasionally address local populations but in general, aims at broadest possible target. Conclusion Marketers tend to make 2 common mistakes in regards to Hispanic advertising. They try to adapt marketing strategies were sucessful with non-Hispanics to Hispanics. And they believe that same campaigns will work with all Hispanics. Hispanics of Mexican, Puerto Rican and Cuban descent rarely identify with each others’ nationalites and like being spoken to in their own dialects. There appear to be two major determinants in developing a sound Hispanic advertising strategy. Initially, however, it must be remembered that the decision to target any subgroup is based on demographic and economic factors. The population of U. S. Hispanics is growing rapidly, and as it grows, Hispanics have more and more disposable income to spend on products. Market size and growth are fundamental in determining the types and quantity of resources necessary to target the Hispanic market. As the competition intensifies, however, greater sophistication and creativity are needed to capture portions of the Hispanic market. Costs are a second factor influencing decisions, and the decision to market to Hispanics adds significant complexities to advertising and marketing tasks. These may include language barriers, as well as ethnic and social class differences between groups with different sets of values (Wilkes 1989, p. 19–22). Strategically, there appears to be no clear advertiser view on what is totally successful in the Hispanic market. Hispanics are viewed as brand–loyal, and there are certainly needs for more specific advertising programs made for them. Indeed, there is much less agreement "on whether creative concepts from the general market can be transferred to Hispanic communications. And considerable ambivalence is evident about whether non–Hispanic personalities can be successfully employed as spokespersons in Hispanic advertising" (Albonetti 1989, p. 16). It is important to emphasize that there has been a drastic, and from an economic viewpoint, successful change that has taken place in recent years regarding the image and accessibility of advertising in the Hispanic market. A large portion of the advertising and demographic information points to the fact that the Hispanic market is one of the most rapidly growing markets, and advertisers who intend to remain successful in that market have been forced to vary their strategies to incorporate more positive images and to also include a wider cross– section of ethnic minorities within their general advertising strategies. Clearly, the Hispanic market is important and vital, and as the year 2000 approaches, will become even more important, particularly in the West, Southwest, and other major urban markets. In the late 1980s some cosmetic companies realized the importance of advertising to Hispanic women (Advertising Age, 1988). Even at this time, some other companies increased their Hispanic ad budgets for their household products but not for their personal care product lines (Advertising Age 1988). Hispanics are believed to spend more of their disposable income than the average white consumer on "quality" products and national brand–names. According to study by Univision research, Hispanics are more brand–loyal than whites at a ration of 38 percent to 23 percent (Advertising Age 1988). Hispanics turn to television for information and entertainment more than white consumers do (Ad Age 1988). They watch 32 percent more television than non–Hispanics, averaging 41 television hours per week, of which one–third is spent watching Spanish–language television. (Ad Age 1988). But now that the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is in place, retailers are getting increasingly interested in doing business in Mexico. Mexican consumers tend to rank personalized service as high as they rank price. They demand service before, during and after the sale (Brewer 1994). Now due to the NAFTA consumers across the border are expecting service and product quality to be higher than ever (Brewer 1994). References Anonymous 1 (1988), Cosmetic Companies Need to Brush Up. Advertising Age (February 8), S– 2, S–6, S–7. Braus, Patricia (1993), "What Does 'Hispanic" Mean?" American Demographics, June: 46-49. Brewer, Geoffrey (1994), "New World Orders," Sales & Marketing Management, (January), 59– 63. Deshpande, Rohit, Wayne D. 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Shermach, Kelly (1995), "Spanish language press is catching on slowly," Marketing News, March 13, 1995: 10 Valencia, Humberto (1984), Point of View: Avoiding Hispanic Market Blunders. Journal of Advertising Research 23 (6) (December), 19–22. Winsberg, Morton (1994), Specific Hispanics. American Demographics (February), 44–53. Zbar, Jeffrey D. (1995), "In diverse Hispanic world, image counts," Advertising Age, 66/14 (April 3): S18-S19.