Are you too gringo? Latino channel Mun2 wants to know.
by Carmen Van Kerckhove
I just read in Ad Age about a new ad campaign by NBC Universal-owned Hispanic cable channel Mun2, which asks its target audience, bilingual, bicultural young Latinos, whether they are becoming “too gringo.” You can watch all three spots here.
In one spot, two young Latino men operating an ice-cream truck pursue girls who run off with their oversize decorative ice-cream cones but the guys are blocked by a fence. The voice-over asks: “Is your gringo diet killing your Latin skills? Jump fences like you know we can.” One of the men sails over the fence like a superhero; then he says, “Now I feel like an hombre again.”
In another spot, a Latino youth is president of the U.S., facing a crisis over weapons of mass destruction. But it’s just a daydream, as he sits in a classroom at school. “Is your American dream becoming too gringo?” the voice-over asks. “Instead of dreaming about war, dream about nicer things.” In the last shot, he has gone from president to gardener and is clipping a hedge.
Here’s another spot from the campaign:
So what do you think? Is this effective inside-joke type humor? Or are they just perpetuating stereotypes?
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Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of 
Y. Carrington wrote:
I’m not Latina, but as a person of color the quote “Jump over a fence like you know you can” really bothers me. This reeks of the stereotype of Latino men/men of color being hot-in-the-tail and animalistic. Sounds like one of those so-called “positive” steretypes at work to me.
But the question of whether a person of color is too gringo/Anglo is a pertinent one. I think most progressive POC struggle with this. On the one hand, we don’t want to be beholden to gross stereotypes, but we don’t want to lose our sense of culture and community either. Inside-joke humor can ease the tension, but it’s no substitute for critical analysis. I’d say that both of these remedies are needed.
Posted 27 Feb 2007 at 6:29 pm ¶
April wrote:
I think it’s damn hilarious and true in many cases. Then again, I’m from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, so I’m naturally biased.
Posted 28 Feb 2007 at 8:51 pm ¶
Angel H. wrote:
But the question of whether a person of color is too gringo/Anglo is a pertinent one. I think most progressive POC struggle with this. On the one hand, we don’t want to be beholden to gross stereotypes, but we don’t want to lose our sense of culture and community either.
I have a problem with this because I, a Black female, have been called “oreo” and “white girl” most of my life. Sometimes I prefer rock and alternative to hip-hop and R&B. I prefer the SciFi Channel to BET. I’d rather watch anime than reruns of “Martin”. And even though I try to honor my heritage everyday, people always say that I “act white”. I’m not “acting” anything; I’m just being me.
This reminds me of a quote I read by Lynne D. Johnson on her blog: “If i am black and you are black and we share not an experience between us, then what is ‘the black experience’?”
Posted 01 Mar 2007 at 5:29 pm ¶
Netdiva wrote:
How is it possible to be Black in U.S. society and not have the common experience of experiencing racial discrimination? I understand the point about liking a variety of music, tv, and other kinds of pop culture, but what binds me with all the other African Americans in this country is that we all experience/have experienced racism. That is, with the exception of Condoleeza Rice who lost her mind a long time ago and doesn’t seem to remember her childhood experiences.
Posted 03 Mar 2007 at 4:24 pm ¶
Robin wrote:
I thought this was a subject about Latinos’ feelings about those ads.
Posted 04 Mar 2007 at 5:10 pm ¶
Daniela wrote:
Lmao!! Yea Robin that’s wut i was thinkin when i was reading the last of those comments, then ur comment took the words right out of my mouth and made me LoLz
Posted 04 Mar 2008 at 1:06 am ¶
Daniela wrote:
But about wut the commercials are doing, well yea i think if i saw them i would laugh, and they would be funny, but at the same time, that’s kinda messed up u know? Like, “Okay, is that all we are supposed to want? We can’t be anything more? Like the CEO of mun2 or sumthin??” LoLz
Posted 04 Mar 2008 at 1:08 am ¶
abw wrote:
I do see where Robin is coming from too.
Anyway, I think acting white/being gringo means being too assimilated. As far as this goes though, I often know that some superblack folks are quick to write off other black folks for being too white/not black enough on dumb shallow criteria so folks stigmatized by this have a legitimate gripe! But I HAVE often wondered myself about folks that are ALWAYS so eager not to embrace certain things that average black people like since people I have met like this have sometimes come across as shallow/smug. What is their motive, do they genuinely like this stuff or do they think ANYTHING that black people like is sub-par-and I have a taste for ALTERNATIVE STUFF in addition to BLACK STUFF. I have my criticisms of what passes for mainstream music even though I like it and I like all types of music but I am just saying. My main thing is that I feel like some black folks that are negative and stupid got issues with being black and have their own uneducated stereotypical notions of it but I also feel that some people that like alternative things too often feel like black cultured is not cultured at all by default and is subpar period!
Posted 12 May 2008 at 1:01 am ¶