Latinos Are In, Except on Madison Avenue
By Melissa Pitt, Huffington Post Latino Voices
It takes something pretty substantial to make eyebrows raise on Madison Avenue, but last week, just that happened when this list of “Who to Watch in Adland” debuted. It wasn’t who was on the list that had people buzzing, it was who wasn’t on the list: (hint: the country’s two largest demographics aren’t on it) women or Latinos.
Latinos in the advertising industry are lacking even as demographics increasingly shift in the United States as well as research report after research report concluding the group’s consumer power, population, and cultural influence have grown substantially over the last decade. Simply put, being Latino is in. Politicians know it, brands and marketers know it, and Hollywood knows it. So, why then, are there so few Latinos in leadership roles in an industry that wants so badly to break into?
According to Nielsen, the Hispanic market’s buying power totaled “… $1 trillion in 2010 and $1.5 trillion by 2015.” Big brands are building strong campaigns geared toward the Latino consumer, and Latinos have…
This article was first published in Huffington post Latino Voices.
Melissa Pitts is a marketing assistant at gyro, a global ideas shop. She is the founder of the Latin American cooking website FlamingTortillas.com which includes food related news and recipes from all over the region in English and Spanish. The website and her recipes have been featured in FoodGawker, Latina Bloggers, The Washington Post, and Foodista.
[Photo by Gary Lerude]