What Is ‘Latino Coating,’ and How Can It Be Stopped?

Diversity in marketing is crucial in today’s multicultural landscape. Consumers are 38% more likely to trust brands that effectively embrace diversity in their advertising, but that approach hasn’t sat well with everyone – including the demographics it’s meant to spotlight.

See: “Latino coating,” the term the Hispanic Marketing Council is using for a superficial marketing approach that layers Latino elements onto products, campaigns, media or entertainment for the appearance of diversity. The group launched a new campaign – #StopLatinoCoating – this year to address the issue as it pertains to its constituents.

“To us, Latino coating is a form of cultural appropriation that offers a mere illusion of inclusivity by adding Latino elements on the surface, just like greenwashing or rainbow washing – but preying on Latino identity,” said HMC chair Isabella Sanchez in HMC’s Hispanic Market Guide 2024.

Despite Latinos accounting for 20% of the U.S. population, brands only invest roughly 4% of their advertising spend in targeted efforts towards the demographic. Additionally, more than a third of Latinos are currently dissatisfied with the current products or value propositions being offered.

How does this relate to the F&B industry? According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Expenditure Survey 2022, Latinos represent 15% of all food spending with an 84% increase from 2012 to 2022. Additionally, they spend an average 6% more than non-Hispanics at grocery stores per week.

HMC’s campaign points to food and beverage giants like Pepsi, Nestlé, and Molson Coors as examples of how to successfully center Hispanics in a marketing campaign. In fact, Pepsi – which has a Hispanic Business Unit and works closely with Omnicom Media Group to produce culture-forward work – won HMC’s 2024 Marketer of the Year Award for allocating “intentional and appropriate investments” to the Hispanic market.

How can a brand determine if they’re Latino coating? According to the Hispanic Market Guide, you are Latino coating if you launch a Hispanic Heritage Month Campaign and have it suffice for the whole year, translate or adapt a campaign not originally crafted for Latino audiences; use stereotypes rather than tapping into the nuances that speak to Latino experiences; or attempt Hispanic marketing without working with specialized agency partners.

Brands and marketers must choose to either prioritize the Hispanic market with intentional and authentic representation or eventually – and inevitably – lose out on trillions of dollars, according to the guide.

If brands address the drivers of dissatisfaction in terms of access and value proposition, there is a collective $109 billion of revenue at stake right now. And, if they can course correct, there is a potential $600 billion in the future, according to the report.

“For anyone targeting consumers under 50, the general market as you have known it is dead. To continue pouring the vast majority of marketing/advertising dollars into an increasingly shrinking non-Hispanic white demographic segment while virtually ignoring the majority (Black and Brown people) does not make much sense,” said HMC research chair Nancy Tellet in the guide.