Alienating for Aliens
// November 12th, 2009 // No Comments » // marketing, social media
Are you Alienating for Aliens?
San Antonio is a very Latin town. It’s expected that you’re going to see signs here in Spanish. Many companies have realized that the minorities are a very valuable market. In the greater US, it’s PC to show one of each color in commercials. When was the last time you saw a commercial for anything that didn’t have an AA, an Asian or a Latin person in it?
However, have people gone too far to reach the “minority” market? Have advertisers in San Antonio forgotten the English speaker?
After going to Honduras on student exchange, I don’t even notice when sign are in Spanish. I just read them and move on. My husband however, does not. We have noticed more and more that there are many times when signs are not only in both languages, but when they are ONLY in Spanish. At HEB yesterday, there was signs on the self check out announcing the Thanksgiving Hours. The problem was, the signs were only in Spanish. I have also encountered coupons on items that were only in Spanish. Do they think that only Spanish speakers deserve/need/want a coupon?
While in San Antonio the Latin population is over 70%, that doesn’t mean that all the Latinos actually speak Spanish. Many do not. Or they only speak Spanglish. So while companies try to embrace the “Latino” market, they are missing the mark. They are alienating a huge market share in favor of Aliens. Not all aliens either, since I’m an Alien myself, just not a native Spanish speaker.
On my side of town, which is actually predominantly African American, they are alienating the Blacks, the Whites, the Asians and all the Latinos who don’t speak Spanish. I stopped shopping at HEB for almost a year after feeling discriminated against because they only put out coupons in Spanish. (And I speak Spanish) But, I figure they weren’t interested in my money, so I stopped shopping there.
So unless you are a business that is specifically targeting Aliens, or Spanish ONLY speakers, don’t alienate your customers by only having signs in Spanish. Or Chinese, or Greek or Swahili for that matter. In trying to appease the minority, you may infuriate your majority.
