Your one-stop shop for all things Latin/Hispanic/Mexican
It turns out JLo’s Made-in-China haut couture clothing line Sweetface has gone out of business. And -surprisingly enough- NOT because it looks like this, but because the economy kind of sucks. Go figure!
According to WWD, this marks the end of Lopez’s clothing business in the United States. And, at least for the moment, there is no word on how or when the possible relaunch will take place.
Fashionistas weep.
Brilliant marketing minds just don’t seem to stop working…
In its latest “branding breakthrough,” Kellogg’s is adding honey to its popular Corn Flakes cereal to target the Hispanic crowd (something this blogger is having a hard time to comprehend.)
“Kellogg’s Corn Flakes has been a part of the Latino breakfast experience for years,” Susanne Norwitz, director of brand PR at Kellogg’s told Brandweek magazine. (So, I wonder: why change it now?)
Anyhow, to make sure this thing is actually targeted at us, Kellogg’s has added the line “With a Touch of Honey” in both English and Spanish, because, I suppose, after all these years we haven’t figured out that honey is miel en inglés.
[Hot tip: Enjoy your plate of Corn Flakes con Toque de Miel while sipping your café con leche and surrounded by all those bongos in your office!]
Wanna win a discontinued CD of The Miami Sound Machine? one ticket to Broadway’s Washington Heights for your abuela or a coupon for free café con leche at the bodega? Watch the following video and then try to answer the quiz below.
Buena Suerte Amigous!
Vodpod videos no longer available.
Well, not really… but I thought a hard-won victory over an army of Mexican gun-wielding chinchillas is a great excuse to take some time off.
Ah… the wonders of advertising!
Video: Las Vegas Tourism Board
Low-cost airline Ryanair (yes, the same airline that is asking us to pay for using the loo) is somehow pissed at Queen Sofía of Spain after she and her Royal entourage managed to scrap a Ryanair print ad featuring the Queen herself….The reason?
Ryanair found out Queen Sofía recently booked a £13 (15 euros) Ryanair flight to England to visit her sick brother, so the company promptly released an advertisement featuring the Queen herself and the -aptly- tagline: Fly like a monarch, something the Queen didn’t find funny at all, though this blogger thought it was, like, great. The best slogan. Ever.
The implied joke, of course, was that the Queen is cheap, so Ryanair ultimately agreed to withdraw the ad.
Come on! Can’t our royalty also save some bucks amid this economic mess?
New York City is so diverse, that we even have Cuban Favelas (no matter the concept makes absolutely no sense). At this cute little eatery in the West Village you can find -appropriately- guacamole nachos, huevos rancheros and other Brazilian-Cuban-Tex-Mex-gringo delicacies. ¡Que viva el multiculturalismo!
You can only thank the Center for Science in the Public Interest for its latest advisory against certain “meals” that will most likely kill you or, at least, leave your arteries as congested as the Periférico on a rainy Friday afternoon (or pretty much at any time, any day, rain or shine…)
Among the center’s worst of the worst dishes included in its 2009 Xtreme Eating Award you will find:
I have no idea why I don’t recall eating any of the above disgusting delicious meals while growing up in a real Latin American household. But I am proud to follow a rigorous diet based on authentic American-made Mexican food and other U.S.-made delicacies.
Yummy!
The International Society for Human Rights (ISHR) has tapped Raúl Castro, Hugo Chávez and other “notable” members of the current political landscape for a world-wide campaign in the defense of the Internet as a weapon to promote human rights.
“Scared Dictators” was created by Ogilvy and the PSA’s have made it to this year’s Clio Awards’ short list in the print category.
You know the economy is tough when Hispanic celebrities have to moonlight as pizza delivery boys and promoters of the Yellow Pages on the same issue of a nationally-distributed magazine whose cover they are also gracing.
This is Cuauhtémoc Blanco on the cover of ESPN Deportes La Revista (May/June 09) and on the back cover of the same magazine, pitching the Yellow Pages as a pizza delivery boy (for reasons still unknown to this blogger). Click on each photo to expand image.
[Oh, and let’s not forget the singing!]
If you thought there was no smart way to attract tourism to La Gloria, the impoverished Mexican village that is supposedly the epicenter of swine flu, think again: Veracruz governor Fidel Herrera has found a novel idea: He is building a statue honoring Edgar Hernández (a.k.a. El Niño Cero) the 5-year-old who is believed to be the first human to have contracted H1N1.
(My friend just suggested he should be called “El Niño Cer(d)o”)
I have no idea how much the statue will cost (it’s a small kid, after all) but I bet you it won’t be close to the $90-million the government is spending on ‘Vive México’ the marketing campaign it launched this week to revive tourism by promoting the country as a safe destination (safe from influenza, that is, not violent murders.)
If you thought fancy colleges were for suckers, think again: Los Tigres del Norte, the adorable band of originally undocumented norteño musical brothers on Tuesday (May 19) gave a crash course on Business at the university. Why? Because they make much more money than you, me and all Ivy-League graduates together: $150 million in 2004, according to some press reports.
That’s it! First it was Burger King, then South Park. And now Schweppes is reportedly using a sombrero-wearing Mexican fellow suffering from swine flu to pitch their ridiculously refreshing beverages! Wanna seat on the tube? Grab a box of kleenex and a giant sombrero and off you go!
(It is likely that this “ad” was born and lives only in the bowels of the Internet… but if it’s a real Schweppes campaign, I CANNOT wait for the ensuing outrage and lame apology by some agency!)
Pardon???!!!
Hat tip [pun intended] to my friend, Gutierritos
Guacamole, which according to “avocado experts” at Wholly Guacamole was “invented by the Aztecs for its nutritional benefits for the wealthy,” can now be used to prepare a Wholly Cinco de Guaco Quick Flag Dip, a culinary work of art you will never encounter in Mexico (it looks like a hell of a lot of work for real Mexicans.)
But it doesn’t matter if this beauty is the real thing or not; Cinco de Mayo is just around the corner and any excuse to fool around with Mexican food –and flag– is a good one. Besides, there are reportedly no swines involved in its preparation so you might be O.K.
Now that we know what it is that Latinas really want, we thought it was time to expand the market research to their male counterparts.
So, what do Latinos want?
They want Latinas!
Preferably scantily-clad ones, shaking up their colita on prime-time television.
(You don’t even have to pay for cable. These beauties are conveniently available every Saturday evening by tuning to Univision’s Sábado Gigante) with toda la familia.
Oh, yes, shake it up mami!
Once in a lifetime, market research comes out to shed light on what we [U.S. Latinas] want, but would rather keep in the dark.
Take the most recent (and reportedly groundbreaking) research conducted by OTX, which pretty much gives away a secret we’ve kept to ourselves, like, for decades! According to the research, in this week’s Advertising Age:
A difference between Latinas and non-Hispanic women: Latinas are more likely (75%) than non-Latinas (63%) to say they’d rather have sex with their husbands than a glass of good wine.
And that, ladies, is because we know crap about wine (had they asked us about aguardiente….). Now seriously, the research goes deep down into our inner selves and secret behaviors, including the fact that:
Latina respondents were slightly more likely than the non-Hispanic respondents to take pictures with a digital camera (45% compared to 42%) and download music to an iPod (28% compared to 22%)
Why is that, I wonder?
Are digital photos and iPod downloads more interesting after we perform non-alcoholic sex with our husbands? Can someone please illuminate me here?
MI BLOG ES TU BLOG 
