Uni-Fox Commercial Advertising to the Hispanic-American Market vs. The American Market The student analyzed commercials on Univision (Spanish-language TV network) and Fox to compare Hispanic-American and American advertising. She found Univision commercials featured more family and group settings, reflecting Latino culture, while Fox commercials used more individualistic and humorous approaches. Voiceovers were common in Hispanic ads to minimize costs, compromising quality. Overall, Hispanic ads emphasized social structures like family more than humor to appeal to clients seeking distinct concepts from general market agencies.

1. Uni-Fox
Commercial Advertising
to the Hispanic-American Market vs.
The American Market
By Xiomara Lopez

2. Why?
I’m a student in the Carroll School of Management at Boston College concentrating
in Marketing. I’ve always had a passion for the creative input that goes into
advertising such as the visual appeal of ads, web design, consumer behavior, media
vehicles and commercials .
Another passion of mine is my Hispanic heritage. Both of my parents were born in
another country and I grew up speaking Spanish and watching both American and
Latin American television networks.
My Intro to Advertising class also was the first course of interest that got me
motivated in analyzing commercials. Given my Hispanic-American background I
found it interesting to research the differences between advertising in an American
market versus the Hispanic American market.
Having the opportunity to conduct independent research with Professor Brasel was
the perfect chance to further explore my interests.

3. 1. Chose Univision and Fox to
be the primary networks of
analysis
How?
2. Recorded about 2 hours
worth of material around
the same time frame
3. Dissected commercials
using Adobe Premiere Pro
 Had 30 minutes of
commercials
4. Analyzed commercials by:
 Camera cuts
 Type of people/ Number of
People
 Words Displayed/ Words
spoken
5. Through external sources
(dissertations, books &
articles) discovered 2 focus
aspects
 Quality
 Social structure

4. What?
UNIVISION
 Spanish-language television
network in the United States
that has the largest audience
of Spanish-language television
viewers according to Nielsen
ratings. They broadcast news,
sports, reality shows/
competitions and soap
operas.

5. What?
FOX
 American television network
owned by Fox Entertainment
Group launched in 1986. In
the 2007–2008 season, Fox
became the most popular
network in America in
household ratings for the first
time in its history. Also, in
2006, Fox was among the top
five networks most viewed by
Latino audiences.

6. Unlike advertising in general,
Hispanic advertising is created for a consumer
who is also an ethnic minority and often involves
decision makers who are linguistically and culturally
distinct from the targeted consumer.
- Christopher A. Chávez

7. Quality
Research
 The general market agency works with the Hispanic ad agency
 Since Hispanic consumers are generally disconnected from the
“general market,” pursuing them through hiring niche agencies
specializing in the Latino market creates additive expenses by



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Adjusting for divergent paths of similar campaigns
Division of labor
Distinct boundaries
Separation of media channels
 Both agencies compete for advertising resources because the
general market agents will eventually reach some Hispanics
 Hispanic agencies end up having a subordinate role in strategic
and creative decision-making. Once a campaign is approved the
general market agency will brief them.

8. Quality
Research
 To minimize costs for the Hispanic television advertising
production, the following techniques are commonly used:
 dubbing (directly translating spots from English to Spanish)
 re-editing footage obtained from general market shoots
 shadow-shooting (using the same concept, location and film crew but
shooting with Hispanic actors)
 avoiding on-camera dialogue in an effort to minimize talent and
residual costs. (Voiceovers)

9. Quality
Voiceover
 The quality aspect I focused on was the use of voiceovers
 Voiceovers adapt existing commercials to the Hispanic market
by avoiding on-camera dialogue (minimizing talent and residual
costs) to later add Spanish narration
 Voiceovers compromise quality of the brand in that they are
not creatively original
 Found 7+ voiceover commercials for various brands



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

Bounty
Head & Shoulders
Toaster Strudel
Target
Maybelline
Yoplait
Charmin

10. Quality
Voiceover
 Head & Shoulders
 Toaster Strudel

11. Quality
Voiceover
Example:
 “Dance cooking” commercial in English
 “Bailar cocinando” commercial in Spanish
Example from sample commercials:
 “Juicer” commercial in English
 Scenes from sample

12. Quality
Voiceover Thoughts
 This is also an example of re-editing footage obtained from
general market shoots
 The original commercial was shot in English with dialogue
 The characters appear to be ethnically diverse to fit in with
multiple cultures
 For adaptation purposes, editors extracted scenes where no
one spoke and substituted a Spanish voiceover
 All on screen writing was also translated into Spanish
 This commercial was also re-edited for French speakers Click here
 Then again, household products are privately consumed
functional goods. They are less tied to self-identity therefore
can afford such cost/quality cutting techniques

13. Advertising acts as a cultural system
that reflects and projects larger cultural values.
- Christopher A. Chávez

14. Social Structure
Research
 General ad agencies measure “good advertising” through
earning awards
 Hispanic ad agencies have a limited budget
 They measure success whether it accomplishes what the
client wanted
 Also, clients must get a sense that the Hispanic ad agency is
providing a different ad concept to justify additional costs
 Creative quality is sacrificed for overt indications of Latino
social structure since American client is approving the ad

15. Social Structure
Research
 Social structure is the patterned social arrangements that
emerge from the actions of individuals in that environment.
 The Latin American culture values the meaning of family.
The extended family plays an important role across
generations, unlike the general US population. (Hawkins,
195)
 On the other hand, American society holds a strong
emphasis on individualism (Hawkins 96)
 American Football is also a great American pastime. The
commercials played during the super bowl are some of the
most admired, acknowledged television advertisements.
The majority win awards based on their humor.

16. Social Structure
Analysis
 The FOX sample commercials
consisted of one Family type
commercial
 Majority split between Group
and solo type commercials
 Couple, Family and Group type
commercials are the most
popular on Univision
 Only 3 solo type commercials
which consisted of a child and 2
makeup ads
Fox Commercials
Couple: 15%
Family: 5%
Group: 40%
Solo: 40%
Univision Commercials
Couple: 30%
Family: 25%
Group: 30%
Solo: 15%

17. Social Structure
Family vs. Humor
 A combination of what Hispanics value and how clients
want Hispanic advertising to be perceived gives off a strong
display of family importance in commercials
 Out of the many commercials, there were 4 brands that
stood out as having family oriented undertones and/or
displayed general Hispanic activities
 Progresso
 Xfinity
 Allegra allergy
 Dish Network

18. Social Structure
Family vs. Humor
 Progresso
 A mother is cooking soup when her son asks in English if he could eat
in his room. The mother says that in their household they speak
Spanish and eat as a family. The grandmother also comes over and
they all sit around a table for dinner.
 Xfinity
 The Spanish commercial features “Los Gutierrez”
 The English commercial portrays a family yet they all seem to be
doing their own thing click here to watch

19. Social Structure
Family vs. Humor
 Allegra
 This product alleviates allergy symptoms. The Spanish commercial
still finds a way to tie in family.
 The American commercials for Allegra focus on being outside and
making possible allergy triggered activities
 Click here 1 and Click here 2
 Dish Network
 Created a subset brand called Dish Latino
 Not family related but still clichéd
 Demonstrates a dad watching his favorite pastime, fútbol

20. Social Structure
Family vs. Humor
 The FOX sample commercials demonstrated a lot more
humor in promoting brands
 Ellen Degeneres, a comedian was featured in a JCP ad
 An Orbit commercial makes a joke out a man who bobs for apples
but accidently pulls the underpants off of an old man. Chew Orbit
and you’ll have a “clean feeling, no matter what.”
 Richard Simmons was featured in a Geico commercial
 Sundrop commercial features a guy who ridiculously dances
throughout the whole commercial by shaking his bum

21. Social Structure
Family vs. Humor Thoughts
 The difference in budget creates a separation between
being artistic and funny (winning awards) and being straight
forward to sell the ad and please the client
 American commercials can be more flexible in using humor
 Hispanic ads contain less humor and are more practical
with functional/utilitarian items
 They also display stereotypical Hispanic settings, such as
strong family social structures, as desired by the client
 The analysis of sample commercial by type of people also
demonstrates America’s individualistic society
 More people are shown by themselves in American
commercials than in Hispanic-American

22. Conclusion
Expectations & Other findings
 Expected a lot more stereotypical portrayals in Spanish
commercials (like food, dancing, romance)
 A lot more local, low budget/ bad quality commercials
 A few ran for pawn shops and businesses that deliver to home countries
 Similarity in brand campaigns
 Commercial variety since Univision has a large outreach being
one of the few Spanish networks on non-cable TV
 Commercials range from children movie trailers to household products
 Found a lot of PSA commercials on Univision
 Cruz Roja Americana, letsmove.org, ayudameir.com etc.
 English brand names were still used/No translation (ei. L'Oréal
TrueMatch, Head & Shoulders, Nature’s Valley, Boost Mobile )

23. Works Cited
Chávez, Christopher A. HISPANIC ADVERTISING AS SOCIAL ORIENTATION: AN
EXAMINATION OF THE ADVERTISING INDUSTRY AS A FIELD OF
CULTURAL PRODUCTION. Diss. GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, 2009. PsychInfo. Web. 1 Apr. 2012
"Fox." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 13 May 2012. Web. 12 May 2012.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox>.
Hawkins, Del I., and David L. Mothersbaugh. Consumer Behavior: Building
Marketing Strategy. Boston: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2010. Print
Roslow, Peter, and J. F. Nicholls. "TARGETING THE HISPANIC MARKET:
COMPARATIVE PERSUASION OF TV COMMERCIALS IN SPANISH AND
ENGLISH." Journal of Advertising Reseatch 36 (1998): 67-77. Print.
"Univision." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 13 May 2012. Web. 14 May 2012.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Univision>.