U.S. LATINO TERMINOLOGY

By Mike Valdes-Fauli / Pinta Agency

As an agency laser focused on the domestic Latino audience, and working exclusively with large companies, we are often asked our opinion on the many terminologies which describe this demographic.  Social values and standards of decorum continually shift, so it’s important for organizations to stay at the forefront of respectful language and commonly-held practices.  So I’ll give it a shot to provide a concise overview of the terms, as well as our point of view on how companies should proceed.

THE JARGON

  • Latino – this catch-all term generally describes Spanish-speaking audiences from across Latin America.  We like it, since it’s inoffensive, general enough to encompass multiple groups and culturally attuned in presenting the word in its Spanish-language form.
  • Latin – same as above, but with a more Americanized slant.  It also connotes many other unrelated things, including the classical European language and the descriptor for inanimate items (such as ethnic foods).
  • Hispanic – originally a term that applied to countries with a cultural and historic link to Spain, but has evolved greatly over time.  Importantly, the U.S. Federal government uses Hispanic as its chosen terminology for the demographic in the Census and other areas, giving it the extra benefit of today only applying to domestic Latinos in this country and not those anywhere else.
  • Latinx – the most recently-established term on the list, created in the wake of several social movements such as #MeToo, Black Lives Matter (BLM) and LGBTQ rights.  The original creators of this term were rooted entirely in the gay-rights movement, seeking a term for Latinos that was gender neutral and “non-binary.”
  • Multicultural Groupings – another trend is using aggregate catch-all terms for groups.  We don’t like these due to a confluence of factors, including the potential political connotations as well as being too vague in describing groups with their own respective set of histories, values, unique issues and more. These include:

                      o    Diverse Audiences
                      o    People of Color
                      o    “Black and Brown”

OUR RECOMMENDATION

  • Inoffensive – It’s important to note that few of these, if any, are offensive.  Each of the aforementioned terms are created with good intention, so our goal is less to avoid controversy and more to get it right from a strategic perspective.  Employees of Pinta come from nine countries of origin, and its CEO is 50% Cuban, 25% Mexican and 25% American.  Therefore, when we claim these terms are not offensive, it comes from a place of confidence in the opinion.
  • Latinx – we have great respect for diversity in all forms, and the LGBTQ community has thankfully made great strides in recent years to garner the respect and equity it deserves.  That said, this particular term has a specific meaning for a specific audience, and potential downsides:

                      o    Some claim the term bastardizes the Spanish language (removing ‘a’ and ‘o’) from words
                      o    Many people don’t know how to pronounce the word (its creators suggest the ‘i’ should sound like ‘ee’…as in Lateenx).  This just complicates things further in trying to garner consistency within a large organization.
                      o    It’s a generational term that is disproportionately relevant for Gen Z (and not as much others across generations).
                      o    The term is often used in advocacy for social movements rather than just a general descriptor for Latino audiences.  It goes without saying social justice is paramount, but we should be aware of its polarizing potential with some groups (ie.                           Bill Maher recently discussed its impact on his show).

  • Best Approach – we recommend selecting one term to use for naming situations (as in social media sites or internal divisions at the company).  But we can broaden a bit to incorporate others interchangeably on occasion.

                      1.    Latino – solid term, culturally attuned, inoffensive, accurate, universally accepted.
                      2.    Hispanic – specifically describes domestic Latinos.  Recommend this be a second option when used in documents, articles and presentations for variety of language, but not the main term to describe your main division.  

FOOD FOR THOUGHT…

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