The Latino Effect

Excerpt from Chapter 1

You can stop by McDonald’s and order a tropical smoothie or walk into a Panera Bread and order your favorite Cuban chicken panini. That’s the Latino Effect.

You can go to Sephora and see the new face of L’Oreal, Jennifer Lopez, telling you that the secret behind her beautiful skin is that she is “100% Puerto Rican.” You can buy a Bud Light Lime or clean your home with Lavender Fabuloso®, a line of cleaning products imported from Mexico by Colgate over a decade ago. That’s the Latino Effect.

Or you can attend ComicCon and hear David Marquez, one of the hottest names in comics today, talk about how he and some friends launched their alternate universe comic book “to be more representative of both those who make and read them,” referring to the new ultimate Comics Spider-Man series, in which Peter Parker is replaced by Miles Morales, who is biracial, African American and Puerto Rican.

Now that’s the Latino Effect! From food to fashion to financial services, the rapidly growing Latino population will have a huge and positive impact in the United States not only in the next five years, but for decades to come. According to Nielsen population estimates, Hispanics will contribute over 60 percent of the total population growth over the next five years, even though immigration is down sharply. And yet most American companies are still not taking advantage of this opportunity. According to the latest study by the Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies, from 2006 to 2010 only 5 percent of the top 500 advertisers’ advertising dollars was dedicated to actively marketing their products and services to the Latino community.

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