[Author]by the El Reportero’s news service[/Author]
The Hispanic market is still a mystery for Hollywood and the film industry, eager to benefit from Latinos’ growing purchasing power, continues to struggle to understand what is a diverse population.
Research by the Motion Pictures Association of America confirms a trend the studios know well: Hispanics like to go to the movies with their families, and they like it a lot. So much that, adjusting for their demographic presence, they are the most loyal moviegoers.
Hispanics, who are about 17 percent of the population, last year made up 32 percent of the audience for Hollywood movies in the United States. Whites, who are 63 percent of the population, accounted for 43 percent.
Blacks, about 12 percent of the U.S. population, also made up 12 percent of moviegoers.
This statistical bump is what has been labeled the Hispanic market, a generalization that covers tens of millions of people who come from different countries and have a wide variety of traditions.
“It is not a huge single market, nor is it many small markets either,” Rick Ramirez, Warner Bros’ vice president for Targeted Marketing, told Efe.
“There is not a single promotion formula” that works all the time with Latino audiences, he said.
Studios tackle this conundrum on a case-by-case basis, because each movie is a challenge different from the previous one.
“A Puerto Rican in New York is completely different from a Mexican in Los Angeles,” according to Fabian Castro, Universal Pictures’ vice president for Multicultural Marketing.
“There are some things that unify this market such as language, food, their interest in some sports, religion,” he said.
Another key factor is the Spanish language and, Ramirez and Castro say, it helps to have a bilingual cast.
“A particularly effective tactic” is to have Anglo stars such as Vin Diesel and Tom Hanks making the tours of national television shows in Spanish, Castro said.
Singer Miguel Bose unveils plans to help Mexico’s Native Indians
Spanish singer Miguel Bose has unveiled a project aimed at helping children in Mexico’s Indian communities.
These children are “the future” of Mexico, the singer said during a press conference on Monday.
The Alliance for the Development and Welfare of Indian Peoples plans to renovate existing Casas del Niño Indigena and build new ones, giving Indian children the tools they need to promote “sustainable” development in their communities, Bose said.
“This is a project that is going to make a difference, that is going to turn the country around, because they are the future,” the singer said.
National Commission for the Development of Indian Peoples, or CDI, director Nuvia Mayorga Delgado and representatives of several companies participating in the project were present at the press conference.
Penelope Cruz: Esquire Magazine’s ‘sexiest woman alive”
Esquire magazine devoted the cover of its November issue to Spanish actress Penelope Cruz, whom the magazine selected as this year’s “sexiest woman alive,” an honor given in the past to the likes of Angelina Jolie, Scarlett Johanssen and Rihanna, among others.
The magazine, owned by the Hearst Corp., includes an interview with the actress.
