Category: Marketing & Advertising

Forget Corn Flakes. Cargill Knows What We Really Want for Breakfast

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Only a few days ago, we learned that Hispanics were nuts for a touch of honey in our food, but now, Cargill has come forward to give the marketing world a lesson on what our real Latino palates are all about.

Per a June 30th press release, the company has launched a new line of pork products, which are “based on extensive consumer research to match and exceed the needs and expectations of multicultural customers such as Hispanics and African Americans.”

“The new Rumba pork products include ears, hocks, jowls, kidneys, neckbones, split front feet, stomach, tails, fatback skins, hearts and livers.”

Because, you know, there is nothing like a good pair of split front feet to begin our day!

Televisa Wants You to Know South Africans are a Bunch of Savages

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Mexicans (and other Latin Americans for that matter) can be very touchy when they perceive they are being portrayed using stereotypes (hats, maracas, excessive soccer, mortal diseases… you name it). But -as my abuela used to say- we are often quick to find the faults in others, while being blind at our own faults (eso de la paja en el ojo ajeno, pues…)

In the following TV spot to promote the upcoming World Cup in South Africa, Mexican media giant Grupo Televisa gathers its blond, blue-eyed talent to sing to the tune of The Lion Sleeps Tonight while a bunch of natives (presumably South Africans?), giraffes, lions, zebras and other wild animals make a triumph entrance at the Televisa Deportes newsroom. Because, you know, Mexicans are fair skinned and work on desks with computers… not like those savages!

Jennifer Lopez Shutters Clothing Line. And Not Because It Looked Like This

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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!

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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.

Kellogg’s Reaches Out to Hispanics by Adding Honey [and a Little BS] to Corn Flakes Cereal

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mielBrilliant 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!]

Queen Sofía Is Just Like Us! She Flies Low Cost

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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?

Make-Believe ‘Latin’ Food Can -and Will- Kill You

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quesadillaburgersYou 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:

  • Little bacon-cheeseburgers tucked inside quesadillas [whatever those are]
  • The Applebee’s Quesadilla burger (a mini-bacon cheeseburger inside a quesadilla), consisting of two flour tortillas, two kinds of meat, two kinds of cheese, pico de gallo, lettuce and ranch dressing sauce… served with fries, mind you.
  • Chili’s Big Mouth Bites: four mini-bacon cheeseburgers served with fries, onion strings and jalapeño ranch dipping sauce

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!

From Soccer Star to Pizza Delivery Boy

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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!]

Veracruz Finds Novel Idea to Attract Tourism

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MEXICO - GRIPE PORCINA

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.)

Looking Like a Flu-Sickened Mexican Will Help you Get a Seat in London’s Underground

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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