Many US Latinos and Latinas will buy more Hispanic brands during Hispanic Heritage Month And they remain united behind the labels - Latinos/Latinas or Hispanics over Latinx
Hispanic Heritage Month (HHM) 2022 is upon us, and this year’s theme is “Unidos: Inclusivity for a stronger nation” celebrating the many countries and cultures (20!) and traditions that make up the US Hispanic population.
Ms. Ily Soares is a Supervisory Accountant at Farm Credit Administration who won this year’s theming contest. She says “Hispanics in the United States are a diverse group who bring a rich combination of language, culture, educational backgrounds, and experience to the great American experiment. This diverse background brings with it a wealth of ideas and perspectives. One uniting factor within our Hispanic community is our desire to be included and represented in all aspects of American society.”
The Latino/a members of our community that we spoke with thought that this year’s theme struck a positive chord. One said that “Latinos are more united than ever, and with all the different countries [represented] we’re the only culture like that in the world.”
The Market
The US Hispanic market is the 16th largest consumer economy in the world (larger than Mexico) and the population is expected to grow from 62.8 million to almost 70 million by 2025. Hispanics make up 23% of all millennials. Total household buying power is $1.7 trillion and household expenditures topped $968 billion in 2020.
Sixty percent of Hispanic households make over $40K, and because Hispanic households are younger, larger and in their prime spending years they are a major force in the economy. No wonder they over-index in just about every product and service category – from smart phones, groceries, health and beauty aids, footwear, and apparel to motor oil. Just to name a few.
Hispanic Heritage Month and Hispanic Brands
10K Humans asked Hispanics in our US community, and just over 60% of Latinos intend to celebrate HHM, with stronger observance among the less acculturated and bicultural.
Figure 1. Will you/your family celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month this year?
Source: 10K Humans. Base = 256. September 2022.
Most often, the month is celebrated with food! Twenty-four percent will celebrate with home cooked foods/dishes from their culture, and another 18% say they’ll go out to dine on foods from their culture.
This year, 80% of those intending to celebrate the month also told us that they were going to buy more Hispanic brands. And since one out of four celebrates by cooking and eating, you can imagine that Hispanic brands of food are the big winners!
Figure 2. Which Hispanic or Latino brands will you buy more during HHM?
Source: 10K Humans. Base = 122. September 2022.
Goya, Bimbo, Herdez and other Hispanic brands should see an uptick in sales in September and October.
Addressing identification, again
Recently, a gender-neutral, pan-ethnic label, “Latinx,” was created as an alternative that is being used, and misused, by many to describe the US Hispanic population. Latinx is most prominent on university campuses, where it is replacing the gendered “Latino/a” in program and organizational names.
Latinx has gained more awareness but not acceptance in the broader Hispanic community and is mostly embraced by younger LGBTQ and non-binary Hispanics. But the term is polarizing and has been ridiculed by prominent US Hispanics as an example of “bulldozing the Spanish language, which is a gendered language” and in Latin America as a “blatant form of linguistic imperialism.”
Figure 3. Which term do you use most often to describe yourself?
Source: 10K Humans. Base = 256. September 2022.
Using the term Latinx to describe the general US Hispanic population – as an all-inclusive term for people with Latin American roots - may be perceived negatively and unauthentic. Our research showed that only 4% preferred the term Latinx, unchanged from last year.
Our research also showed that only Latinx caused significantly more negative (25%), and significantly fewer positive (32%) reactions.
Figure 4. Do you feel positively or negatively about the term Latinx?
Source: 10K Humans. Base = 256. September 2022.
If marketers want to authentically connect with the general population of Hispanics, the pan-ethnic labels that continue to be viewed most positively are Latino/Latina (84% positive, only 2% negative) and Hispanic (78% positive, 7% negative). If addressing a specific country of origin, use labels like Cuban or Cuban-American; most think of their country of origin first, and pan-ethnic labels second.
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