Shakira and Carlos Mencia will both be featured in commercials that will air during the upcoming Super Bowl, pitching Sunsilk shampoos and Budweiser respectively. Last year, Mencia’s spot was hilarious and memorable, playing on ESL. The ad was very natural coming from Mencia and, as he described recently during an interview with Donny Deutsch on The Big Idea, relatable to all people. This year, he’s back. And Shakis will be pitching Sunsilk alongside Madonna and Marylin Monroe– two iconic women who have earned their place in pop culture. A couple of years ago Toyota broke a bilingual ad touting the hybrid Camry during the game.
With the Super Bowl taking an aim at growing its Hispanic fan base, and audience lines blurring as Hispanic viewers flip from English to Spanish-language TV, this is an interesting trend. And an echo of what’s going on in TV with many shows including lead Hispanic characters. The NFL is currently on a multi-year plan to attract Hispanics. This has come with some challenges since acculturated Hispanics are among its fans, while Spanish-dominants prefer other sports. According to research conducted last year by TNS Sport and cited by the New York Times, the N.F.L. is the favorite sport of English-dominant Hispanics, followed by Major League Baseball, the N.B.A. and boxing, but ranks fifth among Spanish-dominant Hispanics.
Mencia is a great draw for those who already are fans– his show airs on Comedy Central. Shakira, on the other hand, can deliver both broad Hispanic segments.
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