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08/22/02

Latinos Furious Over New Ad Campaign

by Victor Payan

Pocho Medias Watcher

Latino organizations are furious over a new publicity campaign launched by a Madison Avenue advertising firm to promote the Latino-oriented malt beverage Tequiza.

In the first controversial commercial, a young, spicy afro-Latino spokesmodel named Ricky Martin Luther King, is digitally superimposed into footage of civil rights speeches where he talks about civil rights and their connection to drinking Tequiza. The so-called "I Have a Drink!" ad has infuriated both the Latino and African American communities.

"This ad is an insult to everything Martin Luther King stood for. It is an insult to the civil rights movement. And it is an insult to insinuate that Latinos drink Tequiza," says Ron de Cuba, author of the book "The Revolution Will Be Advertised."

"Madison Avenue has never understood what our community needs or wants," says de Cuba, a longtime critic of alcohol advertising aimed at Latinos. "We don't want Ricky Martin, and we certainly don't want Tequiza."

De Cuba cites other failed Latino-themed products, such as the Chevy Nova, the Frida Bandida corn chip campaign and the tragically inappropriate Cool Arrow jeans.

The "I Have a Drink!" ad is the latest in a trend that critics say seeks to appropriate iconographies and profit from erasing individual Latino national identities and replacing them with one generic "Pan Latino" marketing group.

"It is cultural genocide," says de Cuba. "The aim is to erase distinct social, political and cultural histories. A Mexican is not a Puerto Rican is not a Cuban. And none of them are Guatemalan. All you have to do is look at a dance floor," says de Cuba. "Let's not kid ourselves."

According to de Cuba, promoting a Pan Latino identity destroys the richness and individual strengths of each culture.

"If I order Mexican pan dulce with my morning coffee, then why would I want pan Latino put on my plate?" he asks. "It doesn't even sound tasty."

The second ad, which is scheduled to be released next week, already has activists throughout Latin America up in arms.

In this ad, spicy dancers dressed as Latin American revolutionaries drink Tequiza and shimmy to a "Latin" beat around their leader, a beret-wearing spokesmodel fashioned after Jennifer Lopez. The spokesmodel, named "Che Lo," proclaims, "The true revolutionary is motivated by feelings of love...for Tequiza!"

"This is just sick," says de Cuba. "I mean you can't tell if this character is a man or a woman. I mean Che Lo looks like a woman, but with the beard, I mean it's just all really in bad taste. 'Che Lo' is a new low."

A lawyer for Jennifer Lopez says the actress/singer/dancer/spokesmodel/subsidiary of AOL Time Warner plans to sue the advertising firm for posterior copyright infringement.

© 2002 Victor Payan