{"id":1838,"date":"2015-04-27T07:54:44","date_gmt":"2015-04-27T13:54:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=1838"},"modified":"2015-04-27T07:56:31","modified_gmt":"2015-04-27T13:56:31","slug":"targets-new-marketing-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/04\/targets-new-marketing-strategy.html","title":{"rendered":"Target’s new marketing strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

You know, I used to shop at Target fairly regularly, back when we lived in a somewhat closer part of town. \u00a0Now, not so much; I pick up my everyday sort of \u201cdiscount store\u201d items at Meijer, the original \u201cone-stop shopping\u201d where I can grab a package of socks along with my weekly grocery shopping. \u00a0And even when I\u2019m running errands in the vicinity of the Target, they\u2019re on my list much less often than they used to be, partly because their decision to use more floor space for groceries means that their selection in other areas has shrunk. \u00a0For instance, in the past, when shoe-shopping for the kids, I would have checked there for a good deal before going to the nearby shoe store, but now they\u2019ve shrunk their selection too much.<\/p>\n

But the other reason why I\u2019ve moved away is because (a) they make it clear with bilingual \u201cnow hiring\u201d signs that they\u2019re happy to hire monolingual Spanish speakers and (b) as a result, the last time I asked for help finding an item from a store employee on the floor, that employee mumbled something and walked off to fetch a co-worker. \u00a0Now, perhaps this is still better than Walmart, where, judging from the disarray of their stores (sorry, Walmart), they just don\u2019t seem to have employees on the sales floor. \u00a0But the combination of disregard for customer service and desire to minimize wages as much as possible that\u2019s shown in hiring non-English-speakers? \u00a0no thank you.<\/p>\n

Which is a long way of meandering into an article in the Trib today, available online at the LA Times, \u201cTarget takes aim at Latinos with new marketing campaign<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The article describes a set of commercials airing, not on Spanish language stations, but on certain prime-time shows \u2014 Jane the Virgin, Modern Family, and Big Bang Theory TBS reruns \u2014 that target Latino (=Mexican-immigrant\/2nd generation) shoppers. \u00a0The commercial described features three generations lingering at the dinner table, illustrating \u201csobremesa<\/em>, a common practice in Latin cultures of lingering after a meal to chat\u201d, accompanied by Spanish-language music, and with a final English-language tagline: \u00a0\u201cThere will always be a part of you that simply doesn\u2019t translate.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is part of an ad campaign called \u201c#SinTraduccion\u201d = Without Translation, \u201cthe company\u2019s first Latino-focused effort to rely on cultural concepts rather than merely translate general market advertising, as the chain previously has done.\u201d \u00a0And the article then cites statistics about the projected population growth in Americans of Latin American descent, and says that Target is going after this market, and attempting to capture them as \u201cbrand-loyal\u201d shoppers. \u00a0Unlike their other marketing, they\u2019re not trying to showcase Target as a store with fashionable clothing and housewares at a low cost; they\u2019re just trying to create a perception that, \u201cif you\u2019re Latino, this is the store for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

So maybe I don\u2019t watch enough television. \u00a0Maybe I\u2019m just not focused enough on these issues, but it seems unusual, to say the least, for a marketer to speak specifically to a particular ethnic group, and only that group, on mainstream American TV. \u00a0Sure, there are spots with \u201cdiverse\u201d (as they say) actors, but we\u2019re never meant to believe that a McDonald\u2019s ad featuring a cute little black child is meant to reach only black viewers, any more than that a spot with white actors is meant for white viewers. \u00a0But these ads, as described, seem different \u2014 seem specifically to be targeting only Spanish-speakers, perhaps even suggesting that their culture is special and better than American culture.<\/p>\n

My question is, in doing so, is Target going to alienate \u201cnon-diverse\u201d shoppers?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You know, I used to shop at Target fairly regularly, back when we lived in a somewhat closer part of town. \u00a0Now, not so much; I pick up my everyday sort of \u201cdiscount store\u201d items at Meijer, the original \u201cone-stop shopping\u201d where I can grab a package of socks along with my weekly grocery shopping. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nTarget's new marketing strategy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"You know, I used to shop at Target fairly regularly, back when we lived in a somewhat closer part of town. \u00a0Now, not so much; I pick up my everyday sort\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/04\/targets-new-marketing-strategy.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Target's new marketing strategy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"You know, I used to shop at Target fairly regularly, back when we lived in a somewhat closer part of town. \u00a0Now, not so much; 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