HispanicTrending

The Lance Armstrong Foundation Talks About Their Latino Outreach

June 26, 2009
By Juan Tornoe

Thanks to my friends from Hispanic Communications network, I had the opportunity to interview a Livestrong spokesperson on their recent efforts to communicate with Spanish speaking Hispanics.

Juan Tornoe: What has been Lance Armstrong Foundation’s experience in reaching out to Spanish speaking Latinos in the past?

Lance Armstrong Foundation: As part of a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) launched an outreach campaign in 2008 using radio to reach Spanish-speaking cancer survivors and their loved ones.  The campaign featured 8 sixty-radio segments that aired on over 250 Spanish-language radio stations across the country and also produced 5 one-hour call-in shows that allowed Hispanic/Latinos to ask questions about cancer to a panel of experts.  These shows aired in June 2008 in New York City, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles and San Antonio.

JT: What prompted you to launch this multimedia Spanish language outreach?

LAF: We worked with Hispanic Communications Network to create a campaign that would reach Hispanic/Latinos through multiple media outlets including radio and internet.  We know that internet usage among Hispanic/Latinos continues to increase and the LAF wanted to take advantage of this outlet. 

JT: What are Lance Armstrong Foundation’s goals/expectations through this outreach?

LAF: We hope to increase awareness of physical, emotional and day-to-day concerns of Hispanic/Latino cancer survivors and also increase utilization of LAF’s Spanish-language resources including LIVESTRONG.org/Espanol and LIVESTRONG SurvivorCare

JT: A little bit more than a week into it, what results have you seen so far?

LAF: During the first week of the campaign, we have received over 4,000 visits to LIVESTRONG.org/Espanol, over a 300% increase of traffic to the website versus our 2008 campaign of radio outreach only. 

JT: Please mention all the elements that comprise this campaign.
 
LAF:The radio segments will air from June 15 – July 21 on over 250 Spanish-language radio stations across the country. 
 
The viral marketing campaign will also run in conjunction with the radio ads and includes:

• Placement of the banner ads on MSN Latino, Univision and HispanoClick
• Viral seeding of campaign content on 35 Spanish-language websites. 
• Spanish-language content on the LAF’s existing Facebook, MySpace and Twitter accounts. We have created Spanish Tweets that Brooke will use throughout the campaign.
• Advertisement on Facebook will also run from 6/15 - 6/29. 
• Tweets by Latino celebrities including Frankie Needles and Lorena Roja. 
• Lance Armstrong, LAF CEO, Doug Ulman and Sanjay Gupta also Tweeted about the campaign and revised site. 

On June 23rd – 27th, we will also produce 5 live radio call-in shows that will air in Denver, San Francisco, Chicago, Washington DC and Phoenix. 

Hispanic Communications Network also secured placement of billboard advertisements in Times Square and Los Vegas.  The Times Square billboard ran June 15- 17 and the Las Vegas billboard ran June 17 – 18th. 
 
JT: What are Lance Armstrong Foundation’s plans for reaching out to Spanish speaking Hispanics after the campaign is over?
 

LAF: The LAF will continue providing outreach and resources to Hispanic/Latinos.  We are currently reviewing the results from the current campaign to plan future outreach efforts. 

What is Next for MySpace Spanish Language Versions in the U.S. and Latin America?

June 24, 2009
Source: Portada Online

As part of its reorganization and layoff plan, MySpace yesterday decided to close its Miami panregional sales offices. The Miami office had three employees including Tatiana Lopez, PanRegional Sales and Strategic Partnerships Executive. In addition, MySpace offices in Brazil, Argentina (16 employees) and Mexico (13 employees) were closed.

MySpace laid off around 300 of its 450 international employees, and close at least four of its 15 international offices.

What is next for the localized Spanish-language versions of MySpace?
As of November 2008, MySpace had 6.8 million users (although MySpace has stated that it has 9 million users only in Mexico) in Latin America (vs. 71 million unique users in the U.S. in April 2009 according to COM Score).

Portada has been told that the closing of the Mexican office means that the Secret Show and other tools specifically designed for the Mexican market have been canceled.

In the U,S. Hispanic market, Manny Miravete, VP US Hispanic Sales Strategy at Fox Interactive Media, where he spearheaded the MySpace Latino unit, was let go last week.

In a memo obtained by TechCrunch: MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta said: ‘We are focusing on London, Berlin, and Sydney for two very simple reasons: (1) these are markets where we have a lot of MySpace users as well as the resources to allow us to compete effectively and (2) these are major international commerce centers where a robust MySpace presence can help our company develop new and innovative business partnerships.’

10 Things You Should Know About U.S. Hispanics

June 25, 2009
by Alvaro Cabrera

1. Hispanics are connecting twice as fast as the general market (14% growth vs. 7%) adding over a million users per year. In 2008, 23 million Hispanics online, about 52% of the Hispanic population. In 2012, more than 29 million will be online, increasing Internet penetration to 58.6%.

Living a connected, collective and spontaneous life is a fundamental Hispanic value and desire. Technology that facilitates connecting, sharing, entertaining and learning is rapidly becoming indispensable for the majority of Hispanics. We are referring to those that are connecting on their computers; recent figures put 57% of Hispanics going online through their mobile phones.

2. The growing Hispanic middle class is super connected: 88% of Hispanics with a household income of $50,000 + are online.

For categories such as technology, consumer electronics, financial services and travel, connecting with consumers where they explore your products, research options, share experiences with communities, and ultimately buy your products is not option, it's a necessity.

3. Hispanics are early adopters of mobile technology: 31 million have a mobile phone. By the age of 15, penetration of wireless services is 64%, by 17, it rises to 78%. Hispanics have the highest proportion of cord-cutters among all segments.

For the most part, mobile marketing is not really on the radar as a consistent Hispanic marketing strategy. The challenge and opportunity of mobile marketing seems to lie in truly capitalizing on the relationship people have with their mobile devices. The mobile phone is not just another screen onto which we can send ads. It represents an opportunity for us to fundamentally change the relationship between brand and consumer.

4. Hispanics will spend money on what they really want: They spend 42% more on mobile devices and 35% more on data services than the average user.

Convention tells us that the Hispanic market is very value-conscious and often makes purchase decisions based on price. When it comes to technology, the opposite has proven to be true.

5. Roughly half of the Hispanics online prefer Spanish, and for 66% it's important to be recognized as Hispanic through culturally relevant content.

Online Hispanics move from Spanish to English and back again in different moments of an interactive brand experience. And far from being a disadvantage, this kind of fluid activity opens up interesting opportunities that help us learn about our consumers while allowing them to customize their online experience.

6. Hispanics are dynamic content creators and consumers: Two-thirds of online Hispanics use the Web to view other consumers' content and 40% create content and provide their opinions online.

Initially generated due to a lack of relevant and in-language content, consumer-generated content in the Hispanic market has taken on a life of its own. Hispanics dramatically outpace the general market in creating and sharing content, and few brands have figured out how to be part of the process creatively. The challenge is to support consumers, provide resources and even become part of the process without imposing artificial restrictions or values.

7. Entertainment content main appeal for online engagement: 37% listen to Internet radio vs. just 30% of non-Hispanics and 36% download music vs. just 29% of non-Hispanics.

They represent a captive consumer that is willing to spend time and in many cases, money for entertainment content online.

8. An online collective life: 77% engage in some kind of online socializing. And 40% are part of a social network. An estimated 20% of Hispanics online are considered "Hispanic-fluentials."

If word of mouth is key to any successful Hispanic marketing initiative, the online space has taken the dynamic to another level. Online, the collective, hyper-social Hispanic cultural dynamic can be expressed, explored and developed without limits.

9. Multi-tasking: Part of the Hispanic DNA. On average, Hispanics spend 17 hours per week online, but they spend 14 hours per day with a technology device (versus 8 hours for the general population).

The big opportunity: moving focus from one screen to three, dynamically connected screens. Because of their higher propensity to use converged technology, this consumer is the perfect target for developing truly integrated multi-channel campaigns.

10. Hispanic online landscape is less crowded: Interactive Advertising Media Investment represented 4.6% in 2007, while in the general market, it is around 7%.

The online Hispanic opportunity is not only about a big and growing market, or about consumers that are eager to engage. Brands that go in first and engage the consumer first have a unique opportunity to establish themselves as first movers and true resources for Hispanic consumers.

Source: MediaPost

Obama Set for First Step on Immigration Reform

June 25, 2009
By GINGER THOMPSON and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN

President Obama is expected to meet with Congressional leaders of both parties on Thursday to begin laying the political groundwork for sweeping immigration legislation, even though its passage this year is considered very unlikely.

With lawmakers already immersed in health care, financial regulation and energy policy, and with the Senate set to hold hearings soon on Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination to the Supreme Court, administration officials and many in Congress say it is improbable that they will be able to add anything as challenging as an immigration overhaul.

And the clock is not the only obstacle. While there is a consensus that the immigration system is broken, Republicans and Democrats, politically burned over the issue in the recent past, remain divided even within their own parties over how to fix it.

The unemployment rate is expected to stay high, making Democrats who are wavering on immigration reform leery of supporting it. And while polls show that Hispanic voters care deeply about changing the system — many of them are related to or at least know someone who is living in this country illegally — even they see it as a lower priority than the economy and health care.

Then there is the question of whether it is Congress or the White House that will take the lead.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts and a longtime proponent of expanded guest worker programs and legal status for the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants currently in the country, has been succeeded as chairman of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee on immigration by Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York. In that role, Mr. Schumer would take the point in pushing for passage of a new bill.

But Republicans have refused to put their political capital at risk without some assurances that Mr. Obama will spend some of his own. Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the senior Republican on Mr. Schumer’s subcommittee, said: “So far what we have seen from the White House, frankly, is a lot of photo-ops and not a lot of rolling up your sleeves and doing the hard work. And this is an issue that is going to take a lot of hard work.”

Aides to Mr. Obama say he does not intend to get out in front of any proposal until there is a strong bipartisan commitment to pass it. That stance has the potential to paralyze the process, since lawmakers are looking to him to use his bully pulpit, and high approval ratings, to help them fend off any political backlash among their constituents.

“His position is very clear: he thinks we need comprehensive immigration reform,” David Axelrod, a senior adviser to the president, said in an interview. “But that’s not something that’s going to happen simply on his volition.”

“Obviously work needs to be done,” Mr. Axelrod added, “and not just from our end, but from the proponents in Congress, to bring it to the point where it can get passed.”

How to move Congress to that point is likely to be the focus of Thursday’s meeting at the White House, lawmakers and presidential aides say.

In recent days, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, has said he believes there are enough votes to pass a comprehensive bill this year. And in a speech here Wednesday before the Migration Policy Institute, Mr. Schumer agreed, though he said the key to assuaging opponents was to show that any new immigration legislation would not only legalize the status of illegal immigrants already in the country but also include tough measures to prevent new waves from entering.

Public sentiment about the proposed immigration overhaul that failed in the Senate two years ago was that it “was too soft on illegal immigrants,” Mr. Schumer said, adding, “Unless we can convince Americans we’re going to be really tough, then this is not going to work.”

If the outlook is unclear in the Senate, it is even more so in the House, where at least 40 Democrats represent conservative districts. Among them is Representative Heath Shuler of North Carolina, who says he supports enforcing current immigration laws at the border and in the workplace before considering comprehensive immigration reform.

“Congress is spending hundreds of billions of dollars to create new jobs, which should go to legal U.S. workers,” Mr. Shuler said. “Americans have demanded that Congress do something about illegal immigration, and enforcing existing laws is a good first step.”

White House officials do not rule out the possibility of an immigration overhaul before midterm Congressional campaigns are in full swing next year. Some officials, however, say passage will more likely come in 2011, when Mr. Obama hopes to tap his broad support among Hispanic voters as he begins his run for re-election.

On the other hand, Robert Menendez of New Jersey, the only Hispanic among Senate Democrats, says it ought to be this year. “I think it is one of those issues that if you don’t pass this year, it slips several years away,” Mr. Menendez said.

In the five months since Mr. Obama took office, he has used his administrative authority to reverse several Bush administration policies widely criticized as doing little to stem illegal immigration while wreaking havoc on immigrant families already here.

At the Migration Policy Institute meeting Wednesday, John T. Morton, assistant secretary of homeland security, talked about some of those changes, including new guidelines that make employers, rather than workers, the target of workplace raids, as well as expanded humanitarian-release rules to keep parents detained on immigration charges from being separated from small children.

Immigration advocates say that administrative changes are not enough and that Hispanics, a crucial voting bloc, are holding Mr. Obama to his commitment to winning a comprehensive overhaul.

Representative Jason Altmire, a Democrat whose district includes the economically hard-hit Pittsburgh suburbs, says his constituents are holding him to a different commitment.

“By definition,” Mr. Altmire said, “illegal immigrants are people who broke the law to get here. So any effort to reward them with legal status and work permits would not be supported by the people who elected me.”

Source: New York Times

Inspired by mentors, critics, immigrant rises to top

June 25, 2009
by Elahe Izadi

Hyattsville native Ronald Hernandez is like a lot of successful students. He received scholarship money to go to a top university and spends long nights studying to become a computer engineer.

But the path to success for Hernandez, 20, was not easy. He immigrated to the United States from El Salvador as a 13-year-old who didn't speak English and is now a rising sophomore at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

Hernandez was recognized June 11 at the U.S. Hispanic Youth Entrepreneur Education's Hispanic Heroes Award Gala as being a USYEE scholar.

Hernandez said he learned English not only through ESOL classes, but also through efforts he undertook in his free time, like reading and writing English words and listening to music in English.

"Every time I would hear something I didn't know, I would look it up and make sure I knew how to pronounce it," he said.

But the motivation to learn also came from those who doubted him. Hernandez recalled one instance in which a classmate at Kenmoor Middle School in Landover was shocked to learn that Hernandez's grade point average was 3.86. The classmate attributed it to the fact Hernandez was in ESOL classes.

"I wanted to prove myself, that I could do something and I wasn't getting the grades because I was in ESOL," Hernandez said.

He soon graduated out of the ESOL program and was accepted into the Science and Technology magnet program at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt after completing his freshman year at Bladensburg High School. But the possibility of going to college wasn't on his mind until he attended a USHYEE symposium at the campus of University of Maryland, Baltimore County. There, Hernandez learned how to apply for college and scholarships.

It was also there that he met Luis Borunda, president-founder of USHYEE.

Borunda said Hernandez's experience is shared by many youth who attend the now-overnight symposium that spans four days.

"The program puts kids on a college campus, and they sit in college classrooms, they eat college food and they sleep college dorms," Borunda said. "When kids experience that, all of a sudden this institution called ‘college' becomes real and they begin to grasp the idea that they can go to college."

Borunda founded USHYEE in 2004 in response to the high dropout rate of Latinos.

In 2008, the dropout rate for Hispanics in Maryland was 4.61 percent, compared with 3.4 percent for all races, and in Prince George's County it was 3.68 percent, compared with 2.42 percent for all races.

USHYEE hosts programs and mentors Hispanic youth, teaching them networking and business skills and helping them apply for college.

"[Hernandez] is not alone. Although his story is one of overcoming, it's my honor and privilege to see kids like him succeed on a regular basis," Borunda said.

Hernandez is still working toward his goal, and Borunda has become like a mentor to him. He turns to Borunda throughout the year, like when he is exhausted from staying up late studying for exams.

"He would just advise me, give me advice, saying, ‘You can do it. I know you can,'" Hernandez said. "During my freshman year in UVA, he motivated me to keep going… He's my inspiration."

USHYEE awarded Hernandez a $5,000 scholarship last year to help him with his college costs.

"Ronald is a young man who is driven, and he is overcome some challenges that just are remarkable," Borunda said.

Hernandez said many Latino youth may face similar obstacles as he did, and having a mentor or other support can make the difference between academic success and failure.

"They don't know their true potential. They don't know what they're capable of or they never tried. No one has given them a hand," he said.

Source: Gazette.net

Univision Renews Cox Deal, Brushes Off PPM

June 24, 2009
by Erik Sass

This week's news from Univision might be categorized as "the good, the (sort of) bad, and the ugly," as the national Hispanic TV network announced new, expanded deals for carriage with Cox Communications; projected more revenue declines in the second quarter, but smaller than previously feared; and escalated its high-profile dispute with radio ratings firm Arbitron over its new electronic measurement service.

Taking the good news first, Univision said Wednesday that it has signed a multi-year agreement with Cox Communications renewing a deal for carriage of Univision broadcast and cable content, including broadcast nets Univision and TeleFutura and its cable property Galavision. The deal covers affiliated stations owned by Entravision Communications and Equity Media Holdings; it also provides for the launch of a new VOD service, Univision on Demand.

Both partners touted Cox's distribution capabilities in areas with large Hispanic populations, including San Diego, Phoenix, Tucson, and Las Vegas.

The bad news had a familiar ring, as Univision revealed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that, like most big media companies, it anticipates more revenue declines in the second quarter of 2009. However, the company's management now believes that in percentage terms, these declines will only be in the low- to mid-single digits. Its estimates follow much steeper drops at other broadcasters.

Finally the ugly news: not satisfied by Arbitron's attempts to improve sample methodology for its Portable People Meter, a passive electronic measurement device, Univision is still refusing to subscribe to PPM or encode its audio signals in new markets scheduled to "go live" with PPM next month, including Miami, San Diego, and Phoenix.

This is widely viewed as a negotiating tactic, as Univision and Arbitron haggle over the high cost of subscriptions. Still, the refusal of a leading Spanish-language broadcaster to encode audio signals in some of the nation's largest Hispanic markets presents serious problems for advertisers and other broadcasters that rely on PPM as a currency for media transactions.

With a big chunk of the market going unmeasured, it's harder to assess each broadcaster's relative share and competitive advantages in certain dayparts and demos. This, in turn, sows confusion and disagreement about pricing, as buyers and sellers naturally try to move price points in opposite directions.

Indeed, it would appear that the dispute over PPM samples is only growing worse. For at least a year, now minority broadcasters -- the owners of radio stations with formats targeting African-American and Hispanic audiences, including Univision -- have been complaining that Arbitron's PPM sample methodology under-represents their audiences, leading to large apparent drops in audience size.

After settling civil rights lawsuits brought by the attorneys general of New York, New Jersey and Maryland, Arbitron received a further setback earlier this year with the opening of an inquiry by the Federal Communications Commission.

Source: MediaPost

Latino Teens Happier, Healthier If Families Embrace Biculturalism

June 24, 2009
Source: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Over the years, research has shown that Latino youth face numerous risk factors when integrating into American culture, including increased rates of alcohol and substance use and higher rates of dropping out of school.

But a new study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shows adolescents who actively embrace their native culture – and whose parents become more involved in U.S. culture – stand a greater chance of avoiding these risks and developing healthier behaviors overall.

The findings are from a longitudinal study by the UNC-based Latino Acculturation and Health Project, which is supported by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and directed by Paul Smokowski, Ph.D., an associate professor at the UNC School of Social Work. Researchers interviewed 281 Latino youths and parents in North Carolina and Arizona, asking questions about a wide range of measures of lifestyle and mental health. Participants answered according to how much they agreed with each question (for example, from “not at all” to “very much”), resulting in scores on a scale for each measure.

“We found teens who maintain strong ties to their Latino cultures perform better academically and adjust more easily socially,” Smokowski said. “When we repeated the survey a year later, for every 1-point increase in involvement in their Latino cultures, we saw a 13 percent rise in self-esteem and a 12 to 13 percent decrease in hopelessness, social problems and aggressive behavior.

“Also, the study showed parents who develop a strong bicultural perspective have teen children who are less likely to feel anxiety and face fewer social problems,” he said. “For every increase in a parent’s involvement in United States culture, we saw a 15 to 18 percent decrease in adolescent social problems, aggression and anxiety one year later. Parents who were more involved in U.S. culture were in a better position to proactively help their adolescents with peer relations, forming friendships and staying engaged in school. This decreases the chances of social problems arising.”

“Such results suggest that Latino youth and their parents benefit from biculturalism,” Smokowski said.

The findings are presented as part of a series of articles featured next month in a special issue of The Journal of Primary Prevention, a collaborative initiative between UNC and the CDC. The special issue presents the latest research on how cultural adaptation influences Latino youth behaviors – including involvement in violence, smoking and substance use, as well as overall emotional well-being – and offers suggestions for primary prevention programs that support minority families.

“Bicultural adolescents tend to do better in school, report higher self esteem, and experience less anxiety, depression and aggression,” said study co-author Martica Bacallao, Ph.D., an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, whose work is also featured in the special issue. “It is interesting that, in order to obtain these benefits of biculturalism, adolescents and parents often need to do the opposite of what their natural tendencies tell them. Parents who are strongly tied to their native cultures must reach out to learn skills in the new culture. Adolescents who quickly soak up new cultural behaviors should slow down and cultivate the richness in their native cultures.”

Smokowski added: “The burgeoning size of the Latino population and the increasingly important roles that Latino youth will play in American culture are worthy of community attention. Communities can either invest in prevention to nurture Latino youth as a national resource or pay a heavy price later in trying to help these youth address social problems such as substance use, aggression or dropping out of school; all of which often results from the stress of acculturation.”

Along with Smokowski and Bacallao, Rachel L. Buchanan, Ph.D., assistant professor of social work at Salisbury University in Maryland, was a co-author of the study, titled “Acculturation and Adjustment in Latino Adolescents: How Cultural Risk Factors and Assets Influence Multiple Domains of Adolescent Mental Health.”

To learn more about the Latino Acculturation and Health Project, go to: http://www.unc.edu/~smokowsk/Main_Page.html

Source: Newswise

Hispanics Face Discrimination Even Among Their Own

June 23, 2009
by Rochelle Newman-Carrasco

I often receive phone calls from advertising colleagues who are looking to add Latino talent to their teams. The caller might own or work for a Hispanic market agency, or a multicultural agency or a general-market agency. He might be a headhunter hired to work with any of these agency types. In most cases, the request is simply about who I know that is talented, easy to work with and has all the right skill sets. However, in some cases, certain biases rear their ugly heads. I'm asked questions that have no business being asked in this day and age. At a time when jobs are hard to find, it pains me to believe that there are worthy candidates being passed over because of:

Skin Color: General-market agencies are often criticized for the lack of diversity within their ranks and, in many cases, they certainly should be. But if truth be told, there are U.S. Hispanic agencies whose staff photos simply do not reflect the diversity of the U.S. Hispanic population as a whole. Black Hispanics have historically found it difficult to find acceptance within some Hispanic circles. The same holds true for the more brown-skinned Mexican-Americans or those who self-define as chicanos. Occasionally, the white, blond, blue-eyed Hispanic will also lose out on a job opportunity because he doesn't fulfill the agencies expectations of what a Hispanic is, particularly when general-market agencies are trying to hire window dressing to check off a diversity box or create the illusion of having a Hispanic competency in-house.

Social Status: Often U.S.-born Latinos, and particularly those of Mexican descent, are judged based upon their parents' social status, regardless of what the candidate's U.S. social reality is. This stems from country-of-origin practices that prioritize a more European-influenced presentation skewing toward lighter hair, lighter eyes, lighter skin and a facial bone structure that does not shout "indigenous" (or doesn't bear "la mancha de platano" as a friend of mine used to say). I know that there are Latinos in hiring positions that will rule out candidates because they remind them of the maids and cleaning ladies that were a part of their foreign-born reality. I know there are non-Latinos that will do the same based on their U.S.-born frame of reference. While the hiring of foreign-born Latinos from Argentina, Colombia and other South American countries is often discussed in terms of the need for better language skills, there are most definitely other factors, including social status, that in some agencies make a U.S.-born Latino a less desirable hire.

Accents: Of course no one is going to hire someone who can't make themselves understood to an English-only customer base, unless the role does not require direct client contact. However, there are any number of accented Latinos who not only can make themselves understood, but also can out-think and outperform some of their non-accented co-workers. Nonetheless, over the past six months, I have received at least two calls from general-market colleagues about creative positions they were seeking to fill. And in both cases they were hoping I knew someone who "didn't have an accent" because they didn't feel their clients would be comfortable. On the flip side, I've seen clients fall head over heels in love with accented Latino creatives, deeming them to be somehow more authentic because of their accent. Sometimes the adoration is warranted because the quality of the work is that good -- accent or not. But frankly, I've seen really poor work get pitched by heavily accented old-school salesmen and get approved because of the illusion of authenticity and therefore the implied expertise that the accent created. Perhaps worse off than the accented creative is the accented account person, who is often not considered client-worthy regardless of intellect and ability to write, present and handle the requirements of the job.

I have always found the hiring process to be complex. Resumes get screened and, no matter how free of bias one believes themselves to be, perceptions get formed based on names, colleges, who-knows-who in common, and a myriad of other pieces of information. All that before the person ever walks in the door. Then there's the voice on the answering machine, the grammar in the e-mail and the first impression when they do finally walk in and shake your hand. Even the handshake sends its own message of strength or weakness, confidence or insecurity.

We are none of us perfect. That said, we still owe it to ourselves and each other to work at being fair and impartial. We must leave our prejudices and personal preferences at the door.

I know that every job candidate turned down for a position could cry foul regardless of ethnic or racial background. Maybe it's age or gender. Maybe it's the cologne he wears. Who knows? But the fact is that for Latino job candidates trying to deal with the day-to-day realities of the advertising and marketing industries (including the multicultural and U.S. Hispanic advertising agencies), there are subtle and not so subtle forms of discrimination that often go undetected or are rarely acknowledged or discussed. If putting it out there helps one person go from unemployed to employed during these most difficult of times, this blog will have served its purpose.

Source: AdAge

Sin Senos No Hay Paraiso Most Watched Novela In Telemundo History

June 23, 2009
Press Release

Telemundo Communications Group, a leading producer of innovative and high-quality content for Hispanics in the U.S. and around the world, announced results for the finale of Sin Senos No Hay Paraiso which aired on Monday, June 22, 2009.

The 9-11pm finale of Sin Senos No Hay Paraiso averaged 1,166,000 million Adults 18-49 (30% share of Spanish-Language TV), making it Telemundo’s highest-rated 10pm finale in history, peaking at 1.4 million Adults 18-49 with a 38% share of Spanish-language TV in its last half hour. Sin Senos No Hay Paraiso is Telemundo’s second-highest rated finale in recent history, only behind the finale of Cuerpo del Deseo (1.2 million viewers on February 28, 2006).

Sin Senos No Hay Paraiso is the most successful novela in Telemundo’s history. The novela averaged 940,000 viewers in the coveted Adults 18-49 demographic, beating other highly-rated novelas on the network. It surpassed the full-run deliveries of Cuerpo del Deseo, Pasion de Gavilanes, Victoria and El Cartel.

Source: TV by the Numbers

Can baseball avoid an error on Latino players?

June 24, 2009
By Zev Chafets

This summer, the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., is marking its 70th anniversary with, among other highlights, "Viva Baseball," its first permanent exhibit on Latin American baseball. At the exhibit's opening, former first baseman Orlando Cepeda spoke for the nine Latinos already inducted into the Hall. "To be here today," he said, "we went through some obstacles."

Cepeda was referring to the racial prejudice and cultural incomprehension that Latinos have encountered since 1871, when Cuban third-baseman Estaban Bellan of the Troy Haymakers became the first Latino major leaguer. For more than seven decades after that, only "white" Latinos were allowed in the majors (and even they often felt uncomfortable) -- until Jackie Robinson integrated the game in 1947. Many took Anglo names or otherwise downplayed their roots. Even Ted Williams, one of the best-known players in baseball history, got through his entire career without publicly mentioning the fact that his mother was a Mexican American.

 After integration, dark-skinned Latino stars began playing in the U.S. The first Latino elected to the Hall of Fame, Roberto Clemente, was called "Bob" on his early baseball cards. He bitterly resented the way Anglo sportswriters quoted him in pidgin English and portrayed him as a "typically" temperamental Puerto Rican.

These days, writers no longer make fun of the accents and temperament of Latino players (at least not in print), but there are other, newer stereotypes to contend with. The most damaging is the notion that Latinos are responsible for introducing banned steroids into the pristine sanctuary of major league clubhouses.

This image owes a good deal to the fact that the widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball was revealed to the public by the self-proclaimed "Godfather of Steroids," slugger Jose Canseco. It is also true that a disproportionate share of Latino players have been caught juicing. In 2005, according to Newsweek, almost two-thirds of the players who tested positive (and half the minor leaguers) were from Latin America.

"The data raise a troubling possibility that few in baseball would like to address head on," Newsweek concluded. "Are players from Latin America simply too driven to succeed?"

In many Latin American countries, the same steroids that are banned in major league baseball can be bought over the counter like aspirin or toothpaste. It is unlikely that players from those countries can be made to believe that using them is immoral. Is it cheating? Well, baseball cheating is as old as Babe Ruth's corked bat and as winked-at as Gaylord Perry's spitball. Ruth and Perry are in the Hall of Fame, part of a vast roster of immortals who used stimulants, downers and booze to help them perform, heal and get through the stress of major league competition.

A lot of the players on deck for the Hall of Fame fall into this category, and many are Latino. Just the other day, home-run slugger Sammy Sosa was revealed to have tested dirty in a 2003 drug test. Alex Rodriguez has admitted using. Manny Ramirez is under suspension for chemical enhancement. Rafael Palmeiro failed a test in 2005. Shortstop Miguel Tejada was named in the Mitchell Commission report.

In the past, the Hall of Fame has shown a lack of acuity in dealing with Latino baseball. It put the wrong name on Clemente's plaque, for example. And a few years ago, it invited Citgo -- a subsidiary of the Venezuelan national oil company controlled by dictator Hugo Chavez -- to sponsor the exhibit on Latin American baseball. That idea was dropped after Chavez appeared at the U.N., compared President George W. Bush to the devil and described the U.S. as an imperialist aggressor engaged in "domination, exploitation and pillage of the peoples of the world." Shortly thereafter, Chavez described major league baseball as being one of the leading yanqui exploiters. The invitation to Chavez, followed by the disinvitation, sent the message that the Hall of Fame couldn't tell one Spanish-speaker from another or simply didn't think it mattered. Eventually, the Hall of Fame's president, Dale Petrosky, lost his job over the fiasco, but board Chairwoman Jane Forbes Clark, the Hall's real decider, is still in place.

Hopefully Clark and her tame board of directors have learned something. The Baseball Hall of Fame is an iconic American institution, and what it does matters, especially on issues of race and ethnicity (and, coming soon, gender and sexual orientation).

The new Latino exhibit, which is not sponsored by a crazed anti-American dictator, is a good start. But the real test will come in the near future, when Latino greats of the 1980s and 1990s become eligible for induction. Latinos are probably the most passionate fans baseball has left, and Latino stars are their heroes. Cooperstown and its appointed electors, the baseball writers, need to think hard about what it would mean to put up new obstacles to their inclusion.

Source: Los Angeles Times