Category: Marketing & Advertising

Michelle Obama Does ‘Sábado Gigante;’ Alas, not for ‘Miss Colita’ Pageant

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FlotusDonFrancisco

You might dismiss Don Francisco as your abuela television icon, but his star power seems to be at its highest (and his energy certainly surpasses that of the “other aged Cuban“). Proof of this is tomorrow’s show, which will feature none other than Michelle Obama herself.

Alas, the U.S. First Lady will be discussing post-secondary education and the financial support available to students who complete the FAFSA, among other ‘unexciting’ things.

Per a Univision press release:

Appearing as part of her Reach Higher initiative, the First Lady will share her own story of pursuing and financing her higher education, and will join Secretary Duncan in encouraging Hispanic students to apply for the financial aid available to them.

Is it too much to ask Don Francisco to have FLOTUS engage in some of Sábado Gigante’s more fun stuff like the Miss Colita Pageant or at least the Mamacita one?

Univision, please? I promise to watch and keep my sarcastic comments to myself –or not.

Are you Ready for Some Latino-Inspired Online Shopping?

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Screen Shot 2015-02-18 at 8.01.01 PMAwwww, the Internet is full of wonderful things, isn’t it?

Take the growing crop of Latino-inspired products you can now buy online, promising you to hold onto our Hispanicness by acquiring accessories, clothing, nutrition supplements and –yes– hats, all inspired by Latinos or Hispanic people like -ahem, ahem- you and me.

One of such sites is Hispanic.com, which I only discovered today (apologies) and which peddles all kinds of awesome stuff, including a Latino-inspired wallet, a culturally-relevant stuffed armadillo or — better — a Que pasa vato [SIC] baby bib hereby featured on an adorable, albeti non-Latino-looking toddler.

Mama Ines is being pitched as the Cuban Aunt Jemima
Mama Ines is being pitched as the Cuban Aunt Jemima

However, if generic “Hispanic stuff” is not for you because you happen to belong to a special type of Hispanic (i.e. you are Cuban), we have something awesome just for you: The Cuban Food Market, where you can find some jewels from the island-to-become-Miami-in-no-time®, including a Le Cuban Salt & Pepper shaker or the Mama Ines [SIC] fridge magnet (below).

All I can say is one Very Latino Thing: ¡Ay, Dios mío!

Latinas Have Hot & Steamy Relationships with Their Coffee

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Not content with launching a “Latin-inspired” line of products featuring a hot & steamy abuela and producing its own telenovela, Coffee Mate is back on its “hot steamy” theme, this time in the form of a short video featuring a Latina having way too much pleasure with her coffee.

Is this supposed to be a plug for the equally pathetic 50 Shades of Gray or what is this thing exactly?

Hat tip: Julio Varela

Gringos Might Have Cupcakes, but Mexicans Have ‘Cupcaky’

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Cupcaky

Awwww, Mexico!

Not content with inventing the Coc Nuts Coold the Apelbii’s and the Crossfit Taquería among many other binational wonders, Mexico is now introducing a new concept in sugary treats: The cupcaky, which I can only guess is a close relative to its gringo counterpart, the cupcake…

Oh, and I’m sure this thing is damn good, since it costs five times more than a conchita and three times more than a dona.

How can anybody not love Mexicans?

Photo via: Ricardo Trejo

Poor Polar Bear Loses to Avocado in First Draft Ever

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Polar1

Turns out Ecuador isn’t the only Latin American country using the Super Bowl as platform to pitch its wonders. Mexico is doing a similar effort with its first Super Bowl ad ever, an adorable spot pitching –what else?– avocados. Because, let’s be honest, which American in his/her right mind would spend a Super Bowl Sunday without guacamole?

However, it looks like America’s love for avocados is not limited to big NFL events. In January 2014 alone, Americans reportedly ate 70 million pounds of avocados.

And that is a whole lot of guacamole!

via: Avocados from Mexico

Disney’s First Latina Princess is Dark-skinned, Has an ‘Abuela’

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"Elena has a darker complexion, brown eyes, and lush, chocolate-brown hair." Don't we all?
“Elena has a darker complexion, brown eyes, and lush, chocolate-brown hair.” Don’t we all?

Quite frankly, it’s getting increasingly hard for this blogger to keep up with all the nonsense, but here goes.

Today, while I was minding my own business, trying to figure out what mariachis have to do with boring conference calls and Harvard, a very important piece of news broke –in very important media outlets, mind you. Disney revealed Elena of Avalor, its first “Latina princess.”

And what — may you be wondering — makes Elena of Avalor a Latina? Well, let Disney explain it in its own words:

Elena lives in an enchanted fairytale kingdom inspired by diverse Latin cultures and folklore.

Yes, I know, I know, that’s not really quite enough. But there is more:

Her family will include a grandfather named Tito and abuela named Cici and a royal advisor by the name of Duke Esteban.

And that’s where I thought “Of course!” and abuela and a royal advisor? She has got to be a Latina.

Ecuador Really Wants Your Attention During the Super Bowl

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Ecuador

I don’t mean to be a party pooper but when your tiny little country is buried in debt, the last thing you want to do is pay $4 million for a 30-second commercial to air during a sports event that will likely be seeing by millions of people who will be too drunk — and too stuffed on guacamole– to care about going to Galapagos any time soon.

Still, according to media reports, the government of Ecuador has plunked down a whopping $ 3.8 million to air a a 30-second commercial during Super Bowl XLIX on Sunday night. The commercial will be to the tune of All You Need Is Love, by the Beatles, as it’s part of a larger All You Need Is Ecuador campaign aimed at American tourists.

Here’s a sneak peak of the promo leading up to the commercial that you probably won’t pay attention to this Sunday.

Miss Universe was Hugely Popular on TV, and I Know Why

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A few seconds before Paulina Vega is crowned Miss Universe by the outgoing Gabriel Isler as seeing on stage (LEFT) and on TV.
A few seconds before Paulina Vega is crowned Miss Universe by the outgoing Miss Universe Gabriel Isler as seeing live on stage (Left, boring) and on TV (right, hot) with the proper backlight.

Miss Universe, that annual parade of young, pretty -and pretty shallow- women, which for some reason continues to be very popular, took place last night in Florida, making some ratings history for NBC and it’s Spanish-language network Telemundo, which aired the pageant in English and Spanish, respectively.

While NBC reported the 63rd Annual Miss Universe averaged 7.6 million viewers over three hours, Telemundo said 4.7 million people tuned in to watch the broadcast in Spanish.

Both figures are indeed impressive, but easy to understand when you consider how much sexier the whole thing is on television than watching it live from a local university in Florida –which by the way might be the closest any of these señoritas will ever get to a higher education institution.

H/t: @aqwack

Eva Longoria to Star in NBC Show about a Latina who doesn’t Speak Spanish — of Course

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eva-longoria-telenovela-star

Eva Longoria (aka as La Prieta Faya and this blogger’s favorite retroacculturated Latina) has been tapped as the star of Telenovela, a 13-episode NBC comedy slated for the 2015-2016 TV season.

The decision to pick Longoria wouldn’t be more appropriate: The show tells the story of a telenovela actress who doesn’t speak Spanish, and we all know that while Ms. Longoria is not a telenovela star, she is indeed extremely challenged when it comes to the language of Cervantes.

I can’t wait to not watch for the show to start. However, it’s a pity NBC didn’t cast Mr. Erick Estrada as her co-star in this thing. After all he’s the only actual telenovela actor I know who ever got away with making a telenovela despite his very poor command of Spanish.

See? This is what NBC viewers will be missing.

SkyMall Files for Bankruptcty; I Fear for Fernando the Chihuaha

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Adiós, Fernando
Adiós, Fernando

Well, it was too good to be true.

SkyMall, the awesome quarterly in-flight magazine where you can find everything, from a life-size zombie statue and Retro Ice treat makers to potty-training devices for dogs on Friday declared bankruptcy, apparently blaming availability of Wi-Fi in airplanes (yeah, right.)

The publication, which strangely wisely launched a Spanish-language spinoff in 2009 may be resurrected — only maybe — thanks to an Indiegogo campaign, but in the meantime, what are we going to do without the availability of the US$25 Fernando the Chihuahua?

Can somebody please help me?

This ‘Taco Toaster’ Will Ruin your Tortillas for Only US$30

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This thing costs US$30
Now you can ruin a perfectly good soft tortilla into a hard-shell ‘taco’ 

The Americans have done it, my friends.

Some genius on this side of the border has come up with the “Toasted Taco Fiesta” a US$30 contraption that will turn a perfectly good, regular, soft tortilla into one of those things this country insists on calling tacos.

The end is near. We’re doomed.

Via: Fancy.com

Taco Bell Wants the ‘Taco Emoji’ to Look Like this

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The proposed taco emoji by Taco Bell
The proposed taco emoji by Taco Bell

Taco Bell has launched a campaign through the site Change.org to push for the creation (ASAP) of a taco emoji, because as Taco Bell — and yours truly — knows, this is really a really top priority and stuff.

Per Taco Bell’s formal petition before the Unicode Consortium, a non-profit that regulates the coding standards for written computer text that includes emojis:

The taco emoji is a potential candidate for the release, but we need your help convincing them THE TACO EMOJI NEEDS TO HAPPEN.

I’m not the one to criticize such noble effort; in fact, I’ve been pushing for “culturally-relevant” emojis for some time time. But Taco Bell — and the Unicode Consortium — must understand a taco emoji couldn’t possibly look like the one above (Exhibit A).

A taco emoji should look like this. (Exhibit B)

A taco emoji should resemble this
A taco emoji should resemble this

So speaking about priorities and without further ado, let’s vote, shall we?