Hispanic Media Training:
More Than “Media Training in Spanish”
I was recently asked to media-train the spokespeople for a new impotence (erectile dysfunction) medication to be launched on the U.S. Hispanic market. If the training had focused on the messages only, the communication effort would have probably been a total failure. You cannot stand in front a Telemundo or Los Angeles-based La Opinión newspaper reporter and say: “Latinos, this is the solution for your impotence problems.” For starters, and for cultural reasons, no Hispanic ‘macho man’ would admit to being impotent, because it would be tantamount to accepting the end of his masculinity.
On another occasion, we provided media training to employees of a major hotel chain. In the mock interview, we asked questions about how many Hispanics worked at the company. The question was seen ‘out of line’ by the trainees. The next day, in an interview with a major East Coast Hispanic newspaper, the third question asked was precisely that one… and the spokesperson, of course, had no prepared response for it.
If you are addressing Hispanics as part of your pitch, you must have Hispanic-specific figures about the product or service. For example, if you are launching a new goodie designed to prevent cavities among children, you should have numbers indicating this problem’s incidence among Hispanic children.
The cultural setting and worldview of a Latino reporter as a minority, immigrant and member of an immigrant family, is not the same as that of a reporter who has spent his entire life in this country and knows no “before” and “after” in his lifetime. A good media trainer specializing in the Hispanic/Latin American market should bear these aspects in mind, in addition to the language factor.
English is indeed the business world’s lingua franca, but if the Business Development Officer for Latin America in a supposedly globalized company does not speak Spanish, he would find himself in a predicament with Latin American journalists, many of whom do not speak English. That inability would signal, to many, cultural disdain for the region. If this officer does not speak Spanish, he should make an effort to learn some polite expressions at least. Some time ago, when I was moderating a Columbia Pictures press conference to promote the film “Hero” on the Hispanic market, lead actor Dustin Hoffman captivated Latino reporters when he strode into the room carrying an English-Spanish dictionary in his hand. In a very acceptable Spanish he said: “Folks, please excuse this gringo who doesn’t speak Spanish.”
I would also like to stress something important about media training organized by global companies in the U.S. for their Latin American executives. While most of them are bilingual, they prefer the training in Spanish. Experience shows that gains in assimilation and performance during interview practice after receiving the media training theory are stronger when using both languages than when using only English. When asked what language they would prefer for their media training, most would answer “it makes no difference” because they feel uncomfortable to show a preference for their native language. At other times, an absurd social and business protocol forces the entire session to be in English, simply because the VP for Latin America, who doesn’t speak Spanish, will be in attendance.
One last observation: if your interviews will be conducted in some Latin American country, you may want to read and learn about the current political situation in that country. You can rest assured that one of the first questions you will be asked is your opinion on “what’s going on here” because, as a North American executive, you become a circumstantial ambassador. And be careful: speaking off the record is a usual and accepted practice in most of those countries.
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