If you’ve ever wondered why and how new terminology emerges on the internet, then this post is for you.
Prior to the pandemic, Latinx was the first iteration of a push to modernise and particularize marketing to younger, second or even third generation migrants whose economic ties are south of the US-Mexico border. Mostly, this includes Mexican origin people who are uncomfortably bucketed into a marketing vertical consisting of more conservative Caribbean and South American immigrants. The blowback and obvious usage of English to then impose on many non-English speaking or multi-lingual peoples was resounding.
Nevertheless, if you look through the blog lore of 2022-2024, particularly, that content generated by poorly paid marketers, a new effort to further drive home the use of English amongst Spanish speaking communities has only intensified.
Under the guise of gender inclusion, somehow, the mechanics of many people’s first language are being used as evidence of gender bias. That this exists within many communities is no joke, but citing the mechanics of the language to then offer another language tainted with racial and historical prejudices seems like a lacking solution. That is, of course, unless, your hope is to market to those people naive enough to follow along with the new nomenclature.
The obvious beneficiaries are large Fortune 500 companies who need a large consumer base. As worries about a contracting economy intensify, the ability to localize cheap products without too much change in the usual US Anglo American strategy represents true cost savings. Artificial Intelligence, the ability to make copy real quick without so much of a struggle, is only one aspect of the overall cost cutting strategy of any company.
Target Brands Disney As ‘Latino Owned’
Take Target, for example, which focuses on the 2nd and 3rd generation of children of immigrants through targeted ads on Meta platforms. A contract with Remezcla announced in late 2022 made much about latino ownership. At the moment, there is certainly some unknown amount of facebook ads tweaked and refined to source potential consumers just for Target by Remezcla.
In part, the message relayed is that some creatives gathered with Target in order to show a ‘Latino’ owned set of businesses. This should stimulate mildly politicized purchases at said stores. However, even when taking the invitation to view their catalog at face value, two of the more prominent businesses are clearly owned by faceless investors. Thus, Target/Remezcla are dead set on stretching the truth as much as possible while providing substance to fictionalized identities.
Ultimately, the goal is connecting on the false premise that consumerism builds community. This idea is sold despite the impossibility of an entity, like Vanguard or Blackrock, accepting the idea of race based equity or sales. It’s just not possible within the framework of a publicly traded company.
With your own eyes, observe how a Disney product (not Mexican or people who identify as Latino) or Honest Company (which is also publicly traded and owned by THC Shared Abacus, Institutional Venture Partners and other fairly white entities). We don’t actually hold any animosity against these investors even. What we dislike is the nature of Target’s Remezcla powered deception campaign.