Wednesday, May 18, 2011

8796: Industry Diversity Could Inspire Telenovelas.


Advertising Age published a story announcing new programming at Telemundo Communications Group, along with the introduction of a Telemundo Novelas App. Here’s a particularly interesting excerpt from the report:

Telemundo also introduced a concept dubbed “The Shift” to describe the shift in mindset as well as demographics and TV audiences fueled by the growth in the U.S. Hispanic population to 16% of U.S. inhabitants, even though only about 4% of ad dollars currently target Latinos.

“The marketing conversation has shifted, and ‘multicultural’ is no longer niche…it is driving mainstream growth,” said Jacqueline Hernandez, Telemundo’s chief operating officer.

Despite “The Shift,” minority advertising agencies and minority media get the shaft. Receiving four percent of ad dollars seems sadly appropriate for a field where minority representation probably hovers around four percent—provided one doesn’t count roles such as receptionist, security, mailroom clerk, janitorial serviceperson and Chief Diversity Officer.

The quote from Telemundo’s chief operating officer is slightly pathetic too. It seems as if declaring that minorities are “driving mainstream growth” has been repeated every decade or so for at least 50 years. Sure, non-Whites are driving; however, the Madison Avenue scenario resembles Driving Miss Daisy.

When it comes to equality and diversity within our industry, well, there’s not an app for that.

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