Why Would Latinos Need Their Own Magazine?

Fuego Magazine bites the dust giving Hashim Warren the opportunity to say at Media Chin-Check:
the truth about Hispanic people is this - most will read, vote and buy in the same patterns as Black people.

Interesting, too bad he didn't share any actual stats or demographic info other than:
My Latino friends buy the same sneakers and watch the same TV shows that I do. Why would they need their own magazine?

Why indeed?

[that's a sarcastic why indeed, by the way]

Due to lack of time, I will simply take an initial step in undermining the easiest of Hashim's assumptions to refute.  According to CNN exit polls, during the 2004 elections African Americans voted overwhelmingly for Kerry over Bush (88% to 11%) versus Latinos whose vote was split between Kerry and Bush (53% to 44%).

Hmm, maybe Hashim just hangs out with Latinos that are similar to him?  In any case, personal experience adds depth and counter examples to demographic generalities but falling into the trap of universalizing your own experience is bad for researchers, journalists and, yes, even bloggers.

Comments

[jeliza]

Hashim's comment is just plain ignorant. He's obviously one of those American's that cannot see past his own neighbourhood and inner circle. Here's a tip, Hashim, why don't you leave that neighbourhood, apply for a passport, and travel, Maybe if you travelled and experienced different cultures other than your own, then perhaps you wouldn't write such garbage!

[Hashim]

the proof is in the money. If latino mags like The Source Latino and Bridgez are successful, then you're right. If not, then I am.

[Clyde Smith]

Oh, Hashim. I was glad to see you'd responded here and then so disappointed by your weak response.

Whether or not those magazines succeed or fail doesn't really address the issues of your claims that a separate magazine for Latinos couldn't work. There are multiple and easily imaginable scenarios in which you could be wrong and they could totally fail.

The real problem is your willingness to take limited data, ignore what doesn't fit and make a pronouncement.

Honestly, Hashim, though I consider analytical philosophy to generally be a depraved academic endeavor, maybe a basic course in logic would be useful.

[julien]

There are a lot of other factors involved, Hashim. People's purchasing choices are already made for magazines, so it's not just a matter of choosing, for example, Source Latino over Source. You have to overpower their current purchasing choices, and that takes a lot of money or innovation.

Additionally, some may buy both, some may switch, some may decide they're both BS and stop purchasing both. The fact is that there are too many factors, and the success of one magazine won't prove or disprove anything (not even your weakly thought out point).

[bookworm brown]

Fuego's failure probably says more about the competitive nature of advertising sales than it does about whether the demographic requires/desrves/demands its own media outlets.

If Hashim was really up on the Latino media game he would've been forced to explain the rapid growth of 3 cable networks catering to English speaking Latinos in the US (the very same Latinos Hashim presumes likes Lil Jon and the rest of the crunk shit). Check Mun2, Si TV and LATV for the stats.

One challenge for English language magazines catering to Latinos is the instituionalized forms of ghettoization/barriofication.

"Hispanic"Ad agencies that hold contracts with Fortune 500 companies to promote in Latino markets have a vested interest in preserving the image of the Latino as monolingual and alien; thereby, keeping ad monies in their coffers while arguing that Latinos need their content in Spanish.

This model is slowly starting to change as Companies accent their english ads with brown faces that hablan ingles.

I will say I was surprised to read Hashim so flippantly approach the topic. I dont think he's wrong to assume that SOME Latinos in the US share SOME consupmtion habits with blacks, but then again so do SOME whites.

[Clyde Smith]

Thanks folks for your comments.

Bookworm, thanks for sharing some more specifics about Latino oriented media. Although I'm used to Hashim taking something and running a little too far with it, this was not one of his brighter moments.

I think that people who aren't keeping up with what's happening nation and continent wide in Latino media and mass culture just don't know. I had somebody tell me the other day that they didn't think that reggaeton would get very far!

Later I realized that he may have meant there won't be a mass audience that includes blacks and whites in the same way that mainstream rap has. But I didn't ask. What I think that people don't realize is that you can be plenty large without those audiences and I'm not convinced that reggaeton won't get more of those audiences or others that may not be into rap.

Sidenote: I haven't heard a wide range of reggaeton but, from what I've heared, describing it as a mixture of rap and reggae is going to throw off a lot of people who might immediately imagine Bob Marley trying to rap. It certainly sounds Carribean to me, in terms of the rhythmic patterns, but I've never heard a reggaeton track that sounded like something I would call reggae and that's a marketing issue in the States.