In Spanish or English, issues remain the same – This month, the Democratic presidential candidates will partake in a nationally televised bilingual debate as a way of reaching out to the country’s rapidly growing Latino population. The 90-minute forum at the University of Miami will present questions in English to the candidates, whose answers will be translated into Spanish and broadcast online and on Univision television and radio stations throughout the country. Latinos represented nearly half the total population growth between 2002 and 2006, according to the Pew Hispanic Center. Their voter participation is not as high as other groups because they make up a young, less educated population, with many members ineligible to vote. But that will change, and Hispanic numbers already make a compelling case for candidates to sit up and take notice. San Antonio Express, online.
In This Telenovela, Even Smooches Have Sponsors – Marketers are using a coming telenovela to try several advertiser-friendly formats new to Spanish-language TV, from a sole-sponsored first episode to sponsored replays of the novela’s best kisses. NBC Universal-owned Telemundo’s ’Pecados Ajenos’ (’The Sins of Others’) will roll out next month with a commercial-free episode sponsored by Kraft Foods’ DiGiorno pizza, with opening and closing billboard ads for DiGiorno. The marketer will also be involved in segments the day of the premiere promoting the novela on two other Telemundo shows. Telemundo shoots its own telenovelas in Miami, rather than importing them from Latin America, so it’s easy to incorporate branded content and other product placement. The early episodes generally have less marketer presence, as characters are introduced and plot lines developed. TVWeek, online.
State’s dairy farmers turn to Hispanic workers – Dairy experts say that most of the state’s large dairy farms have some Hispanic workers, part of a national trend. ’I used to be pretty much a one-man show,’ said Maurie Young, standing outside a large barn being cleaned by a young Mexican man. ’I was working 5 in the morning until 9 at night, seven days a week,’ Young said. ’And at the end of the year, I had little to show for it. I figured there had to be a better way.’ So the Youngs expanded their business. With four sons uninterested in farming, they turned to the workers they had seen at other farms. They now call it ’the best thing we could have done.’ Hispanics made up about 40 percent of all U.S. agricultural workers in 2005, according to the Census Bureau. They’ve long harvested fruit and vegetables and worked in canning and packing factories. But their move to northern dairy farms started in earnest about a decade ago and has grown ever since, said Bob Lefebvre, executive director of the Minnesota Milk Producers Association. Star Tribune, online.
Debate on Latin America Shallow – It has become an article of faith for U.S. presidential hopefuls: If elected, they would give Latin America the attention it deserves. Among the Republicans, Mitt Romney pledged to ’rebuild relationships of trust,’ while John McCain said Latin American nations are ’natural partners of the United States.’ Democrat Bill Richardson wants to resurrect the Kennedy-era Alliance for Progress, while rival Barack Obama promised a listening tour, starting with a visit to Bolivian President Evo Morales, who has been critical of President Bush. Such words are a welcome development for a region that largely sees Bush as too distracted by the war in Iraq to reverse the drop in U.S.-Latin American relations. But peel away the presidential hopefuls’ lofty words, observers say, and there have been few substantive proposals on issues that matter the most to many Latin American governments: treatment of migrants and access to the U.S. market. Instead, there is plenty of fiery rhetoric condemning anti-U.S. leaders like Hugo Chavez and Fidel Castro — but few proposals that deviate substantially from what the Bush administration has done. Hispanic Business, online.
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