The Hispanic Marketing Council (HMC), based in Fairfax, Va, launched a campaign calling on the advertising and marketing industries to “Stop Latino Coating.” The campaign’s message to CMOs, states HMC, “is to give Hispanic marketing the weight it deserves, connect authentically or kiss your careers goodbye.”.

According to an HMC release, “today’s Hispanic market at 20% of the U.S. population represents $3.2 trillion in GDP, essentially making it the fifth largest economy in the world. Paradoxically, brands continue to miss opportunities by investing less than 4% (SMI and GroupM) of their advertising budgets on Hispanic-targeted efforts and engaging in a practice HMC is coining as “Latino Coating.” HMC is calling on all advertising and marketing professionals, particularly CMOs, to join the movement by visiting stoplatinocoating.com and stop this ineffective practice.

“Latino Coating is defined as a superficial marketing approach coating products, campaigns, media or entertainment with Latino elements for the appearance of diversity without genuine understanding or respecting Latino culture. This behavior involves surface-level attempts at inclusion, such as incorporating stereotypical imagery, language, or cultural elements into marketing campaigns, without a deeper connection or meaningful representation.”

“To us, Latino Coating is a form of cultural appropriation that seeks to capitalize on Latino identity for marketing purposes without genuinely valuing or respecting the culture,” explained Luis Miguel Messianu, Founder, President and Chief Creative Officer of MEL (Messianu Edelman Lerma) and creative director of this campaign. “It’s akin to whitewashing, greenwashing, or rainbow washing, but it preys on Latino identity—offering a mere illusion of inclusivity by adding Latino elements on the surface. It’s activating during Hispanic Heritage Month and patting yourself on the back.”

More here.