As a Latino, I'm used to being pandered to. Now that America's 55 million Latinos represent $1.2 trillion of its spending power, according to Forbes, corporations are dumping tons of resources into figuring out what makes Latinos tick (i.e. waste money). This research relies mostly on trial and error, as company after company commits a stream of embarrassing faux pas and awkward gestures to court the Latino consumer.
There was, of course, Disney's move in 2013 to trademark the name Dia de los Muertos, a sacred Latino holiday, before the social-media equivalent of the pitchfork-wielding mob in "Beauty and the Beast" forced The Mouse to check itself. The most cringe-worthy Hispandering (Latino pandering) I've seen this year is Coffee-mate's racy ads for its new "Latin flavors"-though admittedly I've never wanted creamer so badly in my life and in so many confusing ways.
But Google's recent launch of .SOY, "the domain name for Latino identity and expression on the Web," takes Hispandering to a special level. Apparently .com and .net weren't big enough for everyone, so Google decided to create a separate area of the Internet for Latinos to listen to salsa music, share enchilada recipes and do whatever else Latinos do.
".SOY can be anything you want it to be," Google says to the wandering Latino techie. "It's your place on the Web for your voice, your business or your bold new idea."
Google seems to assume Latinos enjoy being stroked by a large, faceless company, though the move also kind of reminds me of how Mom would give me Legos to play with while she sorted out the weekly budget. Or how my third-grade teacher Mrs. Bricker told me I could decorate my cubby however I wanted.
Before companies spend another advertising dollar trying to relate to Latinos, before they pitch one more prepackaged product or idea, they should consider including Latinos in the creative process from the start. Instead of guessing which new flavor will drive the Latins wild, why not hire Latinos to work on product development and advertising campaigns? Maybe a few companies could be daring enough to even promote more Latinos-gasp!- to sit on the board of directors.
Such bold new strategies for relating to Latinos also should apply to the politicians who've come to depend on Latino voters. No elected official is going to convince Latinos he or she stands with them merely by promising to carry out an agenda that person already has decided is in Latinos' best interests. And if a political party wants to show it supports Latinos, it should have enough Latinos among its ranks to prove it.
As for the new domain name dedicated to Latino self-expression, thanks but no thanks. If the guys at Google (and they're mostly guys) had more Latinos working with them-especially more than 1 percent in leadership roles-they would've known there's enough room on the Internet for people from all walks of life to come together and exchange ideas and products. Why would you section off any part of the Internet for any one specific group?
Latinos aren't asking to be treated differently; quite the contrary, we're simply asking to be treated the same. Latinos don't want their own special corner of the Internet.
Nobody puts Latinos in a corner.
Hector Luis Alamo is a RedEye special contributor.