Does This World Really Need to Have Clorox Latino?

Yes, we get it.

American brands in the United States know that the Latino consumer market is the NEXT BIG THING, and there is a frantic rush for these brands to authentically connect with these consumers. That is not the issue here.

The issue is this: when you think of Clorox Bleach, do you really think of dichos and refranes that your abuela said when you were a kid? Seriously? Do you as a consumer connect Clorox to a time gone by when people spoke in riddles and wise archaic phrases? Apparently the Facebook page of Clorox Latino (yes, there is a Clorox Latino page on Facebook) thinks that this is the way to go.

Or this one (because nothing is more attractive than a fly next to a Spanish dicho and above a major cleaning brand):

To the brands that sit around board rooms and say, "Let's have more Latinos to buy our product," here's some marketing advice: just sell your product with ads that are more authentic and better conceptualized. There is no need to Latinize everything, unless it is a brand that would truly connect with people. 

For example, let's focus on Clorox. It's a lot like Vicks Vapor Rub (the greatest non-Latino Latino product in this history of the universe and actually a product where using refranes de abuela would actually work). When the Rebeldes were little Rebeldes. Clorox was a REQUIRED product in our childhood homes. But we didn't think of dichos and refranes, we actually thought of (wait for it)…. laundry, and how Clorox would pretty much make anything white if you weren't careful enough. You know what would have worked instead? How the "x" would just magically disappear and everyone would just say, "Cloro." You should have played around with that. This is bleach we are talking about, but yes, even bleach can be nostalgic. You just had to do a little more cultural homework.

Your campaign is silly not only because you missed the opportunity to think a bit more creatively, but also because, really, you actually think that older Spanish-speaking abuelas just went around the house speaking in dichos and refranes? So while you think you are culturally connecting with consumers, you are in fact just making us laugh. You did get our attention, though, but maybe this was not the kind of attention you had intended.

Like our abuelas REALLY used to say: No sean tan pendejos. Sorry, Clorox Latino, we have to give you a #NoMames for this one.

PS Maybe more brands like Clorox need to read posts like this one from Scratching Your Head.