Anita Santiago’s Los Angeles-based agency is one of the top specialists in the exploding field of ethnic advertising, which customizes and targets ads to various minority groups. In particular, Santiago helps advertisers tap into a Hispanic consumer market that spends an estimated $440-billion a year. She brings an interesting background (she started out writing TV soap operas in Venezuela), a keen understanding of Latin culture, and a master’s degree in clinical psychology to her work for such clients as Wells Fargo Bank and the California Milk Board. Q: What do you think about some of the changes we’ve seen in advertising to women in recent years – specifically, the kind of “empowering” images and messages put out there by Nike and others? A: I think it’s been a great thing because it really did begin to focus ads on women’s uniqueness. However, once again, the “women’s empowerment” theme is a very Anglo message and doesn't really ring a bell in the Hispanic market. Hispanic women have a different mind-set – and, of course, I’m generalizing here. But if you tend to have more of an “us”-oriented way of thinking, then as a woman you don’t want to talk about “doing my own thing.” People in the Hispanic culture tend to set their own goals within the landscape of family goals. The empowering message – “I am woman” – has an attitude that can be almost divisive. And that’s not the attitude this audience responds to.

Warren Berger
Phaidon Press
2001