As we head into elections, we’re sure you’ve seen the intense advertising push by politicians who are desperately trying to gain your vote.
It comes as no surprise that understanding the diversity of specific demographics is important for advertising companies who work with these politicians to reach out to the important voters and influence their vote – one of which is the Latino (or Hispanic) vote.
We wanted to take this opportunity to provide a bit of stats in order for our profession (i.e. you) to better understand the approach and trends that surround us heading into elections.
The Latino Vote is described as the following: “The Latino vote or the Hispanic vote is a catchphrase that in American culture and American politics refers to the voting trends during elections in the United States by eligible voters of Latino or Hispanic background. This phrase is usually mentioned by the media as a way to label voters of this ethnicity, and to opine that this demographic group could potentially tilt the outcome of an election, and how candidates have pandered or not to that specific ethnic group.” -Wikipedia.org
“16 percent of all registered voters in Florida are Hispanic, just 6.79 percent of the total spent on local TV political ads has been on Spanish language media. And the Democrats have a huge edge: $4,260,740, compared to the Republican at $2,118,750 on the President, U.S. Senate and U.S. House races. Nationally, in 10 large states, spending on Spanish-language ads totals just $16.4 million, or 4.57 percent of the nearly $359 million total spent on local political advertising in these races.” -Orlando Sentinel
As we wind down the final days before elections, take a look around and notice how advertisers and marketers are and are not taking on this challenge of reaching out to this demographic and let us learn from the successes and failures that continue to mold our future. For a trend that is described as “potentially tilting the outcome of the election,” the small percentages of overall advertising against this demo could still mostly be considered as ignored. Our generation should be learning from this and continuing to demand that our profession better understand this culture and stress why it is so important to reach them.
Let us continue embracing the value in the diversity which makes us all who we are and who we will be.
Joel A. Montilla – Ad 2 Orlando, Diversity Chair
2: http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2012/10/spending-on-spanish-language-ads-doesnt-track-rise-in-hispanic-registration.html