Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Thoughts on Hispanic Heritage Month


This Macy's print ad stared at me as I sipped my morning coffee.

Today is September 15, official start of Hispanic Heritage Month, the most leveraged Hispanic targeted retail window, and, to a certain extent, the most misunderstood.

According to Wikipedia, Hispanic Heritage Month is the period to recognize the contributions of Hispanic Americans to the United States and to celebrate Hispanic heritage and culture. The observation started in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Lyndon Johnson and was expanded by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 to cover a 30-day period starting on September 18 and ending on October 15.

September 15 was chosen as the starting point for the celebration because it is the anniversary of independence of five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. They all declared independence in 1821. In addition, Mexico, Chile and Belize celebrate their independence days on September 16, September 18 and September 21, respectively." designating September 15 through October 15, as "Hispanic Heritage Month".

40 years ago, Hispanics in this country were encouraged to assimilate into the US mainstream. There is an entire generation of US born Hispanic adults, born between Presidents Johnson and Reagan, who chose to put aside their language and culture in order to fit in and belong. With hindsight, a presidential declaration of Hispanic Heritage seems like a token effort of the US government to acknowledge this new Latino demographic as part of the "melting pot" that this country used to be called. But we no longer melt and blend... we are agents of cultural change.

Today, September 16- Mexico's real independence day- is confused with Cinco de Mayo and Hispanic Heritage Month has become an opportunistic retail aperture for companies to show that they are "Hispanic friendly" and for bars to sell more tequila and Coronas.

For me, Hispanic heritage happens every day. Latinos don't need a governmental proclamation to remind themselves of what makes us special. We celebrate our values, food, music and cultural traditions every day. Our influence is now such, that maybe the real consumers of Hispanic Heritage promotions are not the Latinos that are targeted by marketing design, but Americans intrigued by this new Latino flavor and who want to catch a bit of that "enchanting" latin spirit (or Encanto Latino as per the Macy's ad and promotion).

Not that I have anything against celebrations that involve drinking tequila. Straight up and drunk slowly... like real Mexicans drink it. In September and May and all other months of the year.

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