This post is also available in: Spanish
Emborícuate
The Hispanic marketing landscape can be an exciting environment in which to work. From a creative perspective, it offers seemingly endless new possibilities. The Spanish language alone opens up a whole new world of ‘play on words’ and ‘double entendres’ just waiting for the savvy advertiser, not to mention that in the US, the ‘Hispanic community’ is comprised of people from over 30 different countries, all with different experiences, national identities and cultural histories. There are an infinite number of ways with which to connect to people. It is an exciting opportunity for new, smart, edgy creative to find its way into the market and begin to weave itself into the fabric of the American Experience.
It is however, fraught with dangers. Coors is feeling the sting in their recent “Emborícuate” campaign aimed at Puerto Ricans in New York. The word “Emborícuate” “ literally means” “become Puerto Rican”. At first glance, to a non-native Spanish speaker, the phrase seems innocuous enough, but protesters of the campaign argue that the implication is that all someone needs to do to “become Puerto Rican” is drink beer. It does not help—and probably not by mistake—that “Emboricuate” sounds very similar to “emborrachate” which means “become/ get drunk”.
Protesters of the campaign are calling for the removal of the signs and a formal apology by MillerCoors to the Puerto Rican community of NYC. This is just one example of the fall out that can happen when navigating through this new landscape of the Hispanic advertising space. It helps to have a partner with linguistic and cultural fluency to make the journey with you, a partner with experience (experiencia) and reach (Alcance) into the Hispanic community. A partner like this would make any advertisers journey a more pleasant one…
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