Walking down 4th Street in San Francisco this week, I was struck by a type of campaign we aren’t used to seeing. The image of Spanish artist Goya was staring back at me, with a message in Spanish:

No hay suficiente arte para nuestros niños

Con razón nuestros niños piensan que Goya es sólo una marca conocida de frijoles

(There isn’t enough art for our children. No wonder our children think Goya is just a popular brand of beans)

Spanish language marketing in non-commercial sectors tends to be geared towards promoting social services, such as health care, disease prevention, etc. Seldom do you see culture-related messages targeting monolingual Spanish speakers.

Beyond this message of awareness, the ad boasts biographical information about Goya that one can read if he or she has the time. The call to action is: “Quiere más arte? Pida más!” (”Want more art? Ask for more!”) and the minds behind this are those of the non-profit Americans for the Arts. The organization has also established a Spanish web site to promote the cause of arts and arts education among Latinos.

Tags: latino marketing, spanish,hispanic marketing,art

I’ve read around five different articles today about a campaign (put in place by the Mexican government’s PROFEPA and various non-profit groups) to stop men from consuming sea turtle eggs for aphrodisiacal purposes. I’ve laughed about it, I’ve thought about it, and everyone and their mother has already commented about it. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you can read articles and posts here.

This isn’t a U.S. ad campaign, so it doesn’t really fall into the realm of what I normally write about, but it is a campaign targeting a certain sector of a large Latino community in a certain region: males in Oaxaca and Guerrero, Mexico. And the reason I think it’s important to talk about (and not just joke about, which I’ve done in other places) this campaign is because in addition to the snickers and the “what?”s going around out there, there is serious controversy, with one group calling the ad sexist and demeaning to women, and another saying calling it the best way to reach its intended target audience.

The facts are: traditional Latino society lauds virility and ridicules impotency, as do many societies, including our own. Macho men who can’t afford “performance enhancing drugs” might be tempted to try a more affordable, more accessible sea turtle egg. These macho men probably like women, pretty women. So what was wrong with the ad featuring just that?

I think it’s right on the money, and forgive me, I don’t find it demeaning. It’s tamer than an Victoria’s Secret ad or FHM cover photo. I think it does a great job of targeting just who it looks to target. And to quote the NYT:

“Why can Pepsi-Cola use a woman in short shorts and a little top, sweating in the desert?” Ms. Crevoshay asked. “If I put a picture of a turtle up, who’s going to look?”

Exactly, no one would look. And even if some did, most will pay much more attention to pretty girls than pretty turtles. It’s effective marketing, like it or not.