Let’s take a look at our top five favorite Hispanic ads from 2011, the year of Latino Marketing.
Powerade “Chicharito”
Early in the year, controversy over BBC auto show Top Gear, which runs in the U.S. on cable network BBC America, ensued when hosts made disparaging remarks towards Mexicans during a review of a Mexican sports car. What passes for Brit humor across the pond rubbed Latinos the wrong way after Top Gear hosts James May, Richard Hammond, and Jeremy Clarkson hammered at the national identity of Mexico saying a car made in that country would have to be “lazy, feckless, flatulent, and overweight.”
The pinnacle of the offensive exchange was a comment from Hammond remarking, “Just imagine waking up and remembering you’re Mexican. [grimaces] Oh no!”
Powerade seized the opportunity to feature their spokesperson, superstar Mexican soccer striker Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez who plays for England’s Manchester United to create the above ad with a headline that translates into “Yes, imagine waking up and remembering that you’re Mexican. Less prejudice. More exercise.”
Obama kisses Chavez for Benetton
Last month, Italian clothier Benetton, never one to shy away from controversy, featured a series of high-profile politicians kissing one another for their “Unhate” campaign. One of the most mentioned was that of Barack Obama kissing Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez.
Spanish Puebla Blanca painted Blue for The Smurfs Movie
This spring, in Andalucía, Spain in the tiny Puebla Blanca of Júzcar, villagers agreed to have their town painted blue by Sony marketers to advertise the release of the The Smurfs full-length motion picture. But to Sony’s surprise, the residents of Júzcar liked the paint job so much they decided to keep it, making Júzcar “el primer pueblo pitufo del mundo.” (The first Smurf village in the world.)
New York Latino Film Festival 2011 Pokes Fun At Stereotypes In Hollywood Films
The New York Latino Film Festival launched a hilarious ad campaign this year that compared Hollywood stereotypes with real life. This ad wonders what really happens when a housekeeper meets an attractive businessman. A second ad featured a graph containing the most commonly used names for a gardener in a Hollywood movie. Those were Jose, Ramón, Juan and, rarely, Steve.
Ortho Home Defense Chancla
And perhaps most culturally relevant of all is Ortho’s “Home Defense Chancla” spot that won 2011 Hispanic Campaign of the Year from the Association of National Advertisers which give awards for Multicultural Excellence. The spot features a chancla, the universal Spanish word for sandal, that gets tired of smacking bugs for his owner and, so, goes out and arms itself with some Ortho bug spray. Culturally right on and hilarious.
Unfortunately didn’t catch this awesome article by Lynn until now, but glad that we caught it. Obviously, we (Wing advertising) are super proud to be mentioned. Additionally, its nice to see Hispanic advertising getting mentioned for having great creative. Lynn explanation is fabulous, but we would love to add one item. We believe the campaign was so successful because of the mixture of highlighting Hispanic cliches along with general ones from Hollywood. The message was overarching; appreciate films (whether Hispanic or not) without cliches.