Once Hierbas y Especias?
You know how sometimes a bug will fly into your ear or nose, and even once you get it out, it still feels like it’s there? I’ve got the same vaguely crawly flashbacks from Goya’s latest commercial.
Seems that Goya’s now decided to target the anglo market, right down to a guy doing the voiceover who sounds even whiter than me (trust and believe, that’s saying something). But since when did their motto go from “If it’s Goya, it has to be good” to, “Goya: Even white people like it!”?
Now, there’s nothing wrong with crossover. I think every household should have a container of Adobo, a bottle of Mojo, and a can of gandules on hand. But when you’ve got some guy who sounds as squeaky-clean-enthusiastic as those Mormon kids that sometimes stop you in urban areas* extolling the virtues of “Latino Spices,”** it really sticks out like a sore thumb. Or maybe it’s just me.
I’m not trying to knock Goya products; I’ve got oodles in my kitchen. What I take issue with is the way ad agencies think the shortcut to boosting sales, or breaking into a new market, is by pandering.+ It’s not as though Latino foods, in all their guises, are exactly a new thing; salsa has been the biggest-selling condiment in the U.S. for years now, and it seems you can’t find a town with a population over a hundred people that doesn’t have at least one Latino restaurant (not counting chains). So it also isn’t as though we need what’s been right there under our noses for all this time repackaged and presented just for the gringo crowd.
*They stopped stopping me when I started asking questions.
**They’ve taken the spot off the Goya website, but you can find plenty of others still. And the voiceovers sound just as Stepford-y as the original.
+Or reverse pandering; case in point would be the commercials for companies like Rent-A-Center, that operate primarily in urban areas, target and gouge–ahem, sorry, cater to–mostly minorities, and yet feature mostly white people in their commercials.
Tags: advertising, Food, Goya, marketing