Hispanic MarketingIn the book Latinos INC, Arlene Davila discusses and explores many dimensions and elements of Hispanic marketing. Early in the book, she states that the Hispanic market is a multi-billion dollar industry. This market has grown significantly and is largest in densely populated Latin American cities, such as Miami and Los Angeles. In these cities, the main percentage of these Latin Americans is usually Cuban. Davila explains and argues many points about Hispanic marketing that provide great insight into this billion dollar industry. Prevailing ideas about the Hispanic population and how to market to them are key concepts examined in chapter two. There are many facts and fictions about marketing to Latinos as a unique and ambiguous market. Hispanic ads and marketing strategies take a unique approach to targeting Latinos as a whole. Marketers take the approach of targeting all Latinos as a group and base many advertising campaigns on stereotypes instead of researching Latino culture. “One result of this lack of market research was the dissemination of generalized assessments of the Hispanic consumer that were ultimately based on the self-image, social background, and experiences of Hispanic marketers” (59). Many advertisers target Latin Americans as a unique group of people with almost identical appearance, culture and values. “The (Hispanic) population is continually stereotyped and transformed into an undifferentiated Hispanic consumer” (57). They do not advertise to Latinos as distinct people from different South and Central American countries. Davila disagrees with this and argues that they should market to these people differently because of their cultural differences. The problem...... middle of paper...... beneficial. Many qualified Hispanics dissociate themselves from ethnic marketing. A common trend in corporate America has been to place Hispanics in community relations departments. In these departments, Hispanics have the power to “advise the company on the best activity or festival they should sponsor, but rarely have the influence or power to direct the development of original advertising executions” (144 ). Hispanic agencies face a wide variety of obstacles. in the production of marketable Latin images. First, most agencies allocate a small portion of their budget to Latino marketing. “A general market budget of $25 million might allocate only $1 million to the Hispanic market” (147). For this reason, most Latin American advertisements have gained a reputation for being educational and intended to introduce new products to recent immigrants..