Understanding Hispanic Culture and Credit

There is plenty of confusion about who Hispanics in the US are.  Many think it is a race despite the fact that the Bureau of the Census of the United States has emphasized that members of any race can be Hispanic.  Hispanics are not a race, they are people of different backgrounds originally and largely from Latin America.  Hispanics can be of Asian, African, Caucasian, Native American, and any other background.  Just think about personalities like President Fujimori of Peru, President Fox of Mexico, Salma Hayek from Mexico, and Shakira, from Colombia.  These are just a few examples of people who are Hispanic by their upbringing in Latin America but of varied world and racial origins.

The common elements in Hispanic identity are 400 years of Spanish influence on Latin America, the Catholic religion, and the Spanish language.  These are the core of what makes Hispanics Hispanic.

The Catholic religion has dramatically influenced the way of thinking and feeling of the continent.  The notions of original sin and guilt permeate the culture and dramatically differentiate Hispanics from other cultural groups.  Related to Catholicism is a value for hierarchical relationships, and also a stoic view of life as a suffering experience (a “un valle de lágrimas” or “valley of tears”).  Popular television shows like the “telenovelas” clearly reflect orientations that reflect the notions of “sin,” “destiny,” “suffering,” and “anomie.”

Linguistic elements and values derived from 800 years of Arab domination over Spain continue to impact Hispanic culture. Many aspects of Spanish language vocabulary can be traced back to the Arabic language.  Examples include:  Zapato, pantalón, camisa, bodega, algebra, café, cero, azúcar, aceite, adobe, ajedrez, mascara, mazapán, momia, talco, toronja, zanahoria, (Shoe, pants, shirt, warehouse, algebra, café, zero, sugar, oil, adobe, chess, mask, marzipan, mummy, powder, grapefruit, carrot) and many more.  Among the many other Arabic influences on Hispanic culture is the notion of Ah-Riba.  This concept refers to the prohibition to collect interest on debt, and scholars debate whether different types of insurance are included in the prohibition of Riba as well.

Hispanic heritage combines these and many other aspects of Arabic culture that have important implications for marketing.  If the concepts of “interest” and “insurance” are problematic in the heritage of the culture then it is reasonable to assume that selling on credit and selling insurance to Hispanics would be more difficult than selling the same to non-Hispanics.  

Hispanic identity is the combination of objective and subjective aspects of the culture.  Marketers that wish to reach out to this important segment need to go deeper in understanding how these cultural influences shape perceptions about names, brands, products and services, and the usage of these products and services.

Social Class

The combination of income, education, and occupational prestige is likely to be more influential in the differences found among Hispanics than country of origin.

A typical question marketers ask is:  Can I bring our ads from Caracas, Bogota, Buenos Aires, or Mexico City to the US and use them to successfully communicate with US Hispanics?  The question has much apparent merit.  Just think, if one could use the same advertisements from Latin American countries in the US this would constitute great savings.  The assumption that these markets are equivalent may come from the following logic:

Mexicans in the US make up over 67% of all US Hispanics.  If Mexicans are the majority and they come from Mexico then they come from the same culture as those in their home country, thus they should react similarly in Mexico and in the US.