Perception = Reality

Mexican President Vicente Fox is being criticized by some for not responding sooner to the mining tragedy in Coahuila, Mexico. Specifically, he didn't visit the mine or families who kept a vigil praying for a miracle. Unfortunately, they were all pronounced dead on Saturday.

There's also an accusation, which Fox's office disputes I should point ou, that the government pressured local officials not to tell families sooner that the miners likely had died instantly. There's a Reuter's story on it that appeared in the Washington Post.

While it's a tough issue for government leaders on how to respond when there's a tragedy, the one main principle in crisis communication is that perception equals reality. If the peopleperceived he didn't do enough, then he didn't do enough.

Russian President Vladamir Putin was also harshly criticized when the Kursk submarine sunk killing its crew. The difference, however, is that Putin was on vacation and stayed on vacation during the tragedy. Worse, he refused help of other countries until it was way too late.

Another main principal in crisis communication is that the first step should be empathy. It looks like his office did do that by expressing condolences. I found a press release on the Mexican government site. However, it's dated February 26.

I'm not here to judge President Fox's response one way or another. Only to say that from a public relations perspective he is suffering a major hit for not adhering to basic crisis communication principles.

Move over ketchup, here comes something meatier

Scripps Howard News Service reports that Hispanic food - particularly Mexican - is threatening to displace Italian and Chinese food as the food of choice.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says Americans are eating four times more Mexican food than they ate 20 years ago, and sales of salsa are higher than ketchup sales.

In the article, Roberto Quinones, head of the American Tortilla Industry Association (jeez there's an association for anything, huh?), estimates tortillas sales topped $6 billion in 2004.

Toyota top of mind

Toyota tops the list of makes that are top of mind among Hispanic Americans looking to the car buying market according to the latest findings from GfK Hispanic OmniTel™ and reported on Multicultural Marketing.

Further, the survey also found that when looking to purchase a car, fuel efficiency is an important factor:
-- 80% of Hispanic respondents indicated they are likely to purchase a smaller-sized car with better fuel economy in the wake of recent gasoline price increases.
-- This is higher than the general population (70%).

Vegas bets on sure thing

On-Line Casinos announces the first Hispanic Gaming Summit July 18 in Las Vegas. The event conveniently precedes the Third Annual Casino Marketing Conference, the article point out.

You know when Vegas starts betting on something it's a sure thing ;-)

This is a good case of "What happens in Vegas" should not just stay in Vegas.

Yankelovich : Hispanics main driving force for U.S. economy

Yankelovich Inc., a leading marketing research and consulting firm, has predicted that for 2006 that the Hispanic market is "a main driving force" and "catalyst for growth" in the American economy, destined to receive heightened attention from marketers this year and beyond, Hispanic Business Magazine is reporting.

Here are some of their predictions:

Prediction: Greater outreach by marketers from a broader array of industries will be seen due to more affluence and higher rates of entrepreneurship.

Prediction: Hispanics are a main driving force in the American economy and will continue to be a catalyst for growth in the U.S.

-- 88 percent of Hispanics believe it is cool to be Hispanic.
-- 80 percent of Hispanics, versus 67 percent of non-Hispanic whites, agree that 'as a shopper, I feel more in charge today than I used to.
-- 42 percent of Hispanics, versus 27 percent of non-Hispanic whites, believe they will become rich in their lifetime.

Prediction: In 2006 Yankelovich will also be further exploring areas like the impact of more and more Hispanics becoming local, state, and federal government leaders.

Pray for trapped miners in Mexico

Let's hope these guys will pull out of there. In case you're not following the story, there are about 65 miners trapped in a mine in Mexico. Read the story on MSNBC.

Latinos less likely to self-test and treat their diabetes

An article in Market Analysis , which is part of NewsRX.com, reports on findings from GfK Market Measures study that Latinos are less likely to self-test and treat their disease than diabetes patients in the general U.S. population. Further, the study, called "Roper U.S. Latino Diabetes Patient Market Study," found that unacculturated Latinos with diabetes are less likely than their English-speaking Latino counterparts to be proactive in their diabetes care and to seek out information and interact with their doctors. They are also less healthy overall.

Half of the estimated 2.2 million Latinos with diabetes are Spanish dominant, the article says.

This revealed that the "sizable Latino market offers pharmaceutical and medical-device manufacturers an opportunity to capture additional market share through tailored, culturally sensitive communications." Haven't we been saying this all along?

These findings indicate the need for education programs directed toward Spanish-dominant Latinos about benefits of prescription medications, blood glucose testing, and exercise, the article says.

The research also revealed the best media through which to communicate with the Latino diabetes market.

-- Fifty-two percent of patients use television as a source of diabetes information, with more than 80% saying the saw advertising for medications and blood glucose monitors on TV.
-- Nearly half of respondents used patient information pamphlets and diabetes magazines
-- 1 in 3 cited word-of-mouth
-- Almost 20% of patients obtained diabetes information from the radio.

"To be successful, tailoring communications to these distinct audiences must go beyond simply providing Spanish translations of existing English-language materials," David Jacobson, senior vice president of GfK Market Measures' Roper global diabetes program, is quoted as saying in the article.

Black v. Brown tension

A January 24 Wall Street Journal article, entitled, "Blacks v. Latinos At Work" by Miriam Jordan discussed a new wave of workplace discrimination lawsuits where Blacks are claiming to be passed over for jobs or promotion in favor of Hispanics. In once case, there was a $110,000 settlement against Clougherty Packing Co after finding that it had been almost exclusively hiring Hispanics for warehouse, packing and production jobs.

According to the U.S. Census, not only have we outpaced all minorities in terms of population, we have also surpassed blacks in terms of income (about $34,000 compared to their approximately $32,000). Asians, still lead the minority income pack by far in case you're wondering.

If you're interested in joining the debate, Human Resource Executive (has as a circulation of approximately 80,000 HR professionals) is working on a follow-up story. Contact the writer on the story, Julie Cook Ramirez, at JCookJoun@aol.com by March 10. I know I will be ...

Si, si, I'm still here

I haven't posted a blog in more than a week, for which I apologize. Combination of crazy work schedule, sick child at home (she's doing better now), and preparing for a trip to Tucson, AZ. Some of you may know I am in the Air Force Reserves (that's Maj. Camelo, thank you very much :-) where I serve as the senior public affairs officer at Westover Air Reserve Base in Mass. We took a group of civic leaders on a 2-day trip to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base to show them what we do in the Reserves and how that relates to the active duty. That's me on the far right in this group picture in front of an A-10, the world-famous "tank killer."

Univision for sale?

Reuters is reporting that Univision is considering selling the company in an auction.

The story, which ran on MSNBC.com, says interested companies likely include the big media titans such as News Corp., CBS Corp. and Walt Disney Co.

General Electric Co.’sNBC Universal owns Telemundo and would be prohibited from bidding for antitrust reasons.

Superbowl Ads

First, thank God I didn't put money down on the Seahawks as I had intended I'm not a fan, just thought it was a "sure bet". At least the game was pretty good.

The ads, one the other hand, were overall pretty mediocre I thought. A few stuck out and were pretty funny. I did enjoy the bi-lingual Toyota hybrid spot. I thought it was effective and topical.

The P. Diddy Pepsi ad was one of the dumbest I've seen I have to say. Not sure if they thought we'd be humming the corny rap song all day today or what.

You can check out all the Superbowl ads at iFilm.

Dayanara continues come back

Meet the new Ms. Clairol -- Dayanara Torres. In case the name sounds familiar, she was the 1993 Miss Universe and formerly Mrs. Mark Anthony (just prior to J-Lo moving back into the scene), plus she's been on Young and the Restless.

A Brand Week article says the Puerto Rican is the new "brand ambassador" for the Clairol Hydrience hair color products. She will appear in English and Spanish-language advertising, public relations and retail initiatives for Hydrience, according to the article.

In October, Wal-Mart announced her to represent the company's Metro-7 line of clothing.

Connecticut Boricuas get their "props" at national parade

The National Puerto Rican Parade, held the second Sunday in June down 5th Avenue in NYC, has selected Connecticut for a special honor at this year's parade, scheduled for June 11.

The New Haven Register reports CT was selected for the first time in the parade's 49-year history to honor the state and the 200,000 Puerto Ricans living in CT.

The parade honors one U.S. state and one Puerto Rican community each year. Florida, Puerto Rico is the community in P.R. being recognized with CT, according to Ralph Morales, chairman of the parade's organizing group, who is quoted in the article.

To demonstrate the growth of Latinos in CT, there were 213,116 people of Hispanic descent in the 1990 U.S. Census. By 2000, that number jumped to 320,323. the 2005 estimate had it at 441,720.

The last number I saw had Puerto Ricans accounting for about 65% of the state's Hispanic population. So, by that estimation, there are about 287,000 Boricuas in CT.

If you have not been to the parade ... you have to go ... no matter your heritage or background. While some knuckleheads did some bad things in Central Park after the parade a few years back to give it negative national headlines, it is a beautiful sight to behold. The parade attracts more than 2 million people, so many companies make it a point to have a float or some type of presence during the festivities.