Targeting Future Majorities

A few years ago, it might seem that advertising in America was based on a few simple, if somewhat racially biased truths.   One of these truths was that the white working male was the primary demographic for many marketing campaigns.   Everyone has seen the images of young girls swooning over a boy because of a product, but it was until recently, almost always predicated toward a certain ethnicity.   In 2012, however there are a few challenges facing advertisement firms which are new and striking.   None more so that the realization that at some time in the future, the working white male may not be the largest market share.

Ethnic commercials have long existed, up until the 1970's it was common for ad men to use negative stereotypes of minorities to promote their products.  This was because the majority of buying America was white and comfortable with these ethnic stances.   The Frito Bandito, for example, was a colorful character who stole Frito's chips.   Well he was also a statement on how advertisers thought Caucasians envisioned this particular minority.   "Lucky", from Lucky Charms could be mostly harmless, but still has undertones of ethnic derisiveness.   Jello even had an animated commercial in the 1960's that featured an Asian child that could not say "Jello" correctly.   Since the '70's there are many more commercials targeting ethnic groups for inclusion rather than division.   Ethnic advertisements in the new millennium have taken the issue of race much more positively in many cases.   Alternate language ads and increased diversity within advertisements is seen as a respectful way to market toward another ethnic group, and many firms have embraced this.

So what happens when the market predicts a large scale shift?   According to the last census over 40 million Americans were immigrants with a 2.4 million increase from 2007 alone.  With immigrants and in fact Hispanics topping the numbers lists, there is a good chance that one day advertising will look very different from how it does today.   73% of  Hispanics in 2012 expected to earn more in 2013 than the previous year as well.   This means there is an economic shift taking place, and some ad firms are trying to capitalize on this.   

Cereals such as Cinnamon Toast Crunch and Lucky Charms are both trying to aggressively target young Hispanic children in a marketing ploy to "get them young" as it were.   Heavy dispersal of commercial ads on Spanish-speaking networks during children's programs  is on the rise, while for non or white ethnic stations, these ads have actually decreased.   The insidious nature of this marketing scheme is that it plays not just on the fact that Spanish-speaking families are making more money, but also on the fact that childhood obesity is much more prevalent in Hispanic communities.   Out of the 11 cereal brands which have increased exposure to Hispanics, is it possible that there is some innocuous reason that they would preform this way?   Perhaps, but money is often the only motivator a company needs and this business plan certainly seems aimed to provide that.

Overall, American advertising firms have done well in offering the olive branch to those of another ethnicity, however discrepancies still exist.   When the next group of ad men come into their offices, will they integrate these "others" or will they target them? For the foreseeable future it seems that as minorities become majorities there will be big money for those who start early.

Original Article

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