The answer, according to a study at Washington State University, depends on political orientation. Their surveys conclude that politically liberal Hispanic/Latino consumers don’t care whether a marketer uses Latino or Latinx. Politically conservative Hispanic/Latino consumers, however, were found to generally consider use of the term Latinx to be offensive, and these conservative consumers expressed a lowered willingness to purchase items advertised using the term.
The greater resistance among political conservatives to Latinx is consistent with other research and anecdotal evidence that conservatives prefer social tradition to social change. At the same time, there was no evidence Hispanic/Latino consumers, regardless of political orientation, clearly prefer use of Latinx to Latino for gender-neutral designation.
Further, the researchers point to prior studies which indicate Hispanics and Latinos consider the development and use of the term as an insulting imposition of Anglo norms on Latinos and as a tone-deaf failure to recognize differences among the numerous Hispanic and Latino cultures.
I recommend you lay off Latinx in advertising. There seems to be little upside and the clear potential of downsides in use of the term.
Competent marketers who use Latinx don’t intend to offend Latinos. The motivation is proper, but let’s not assume we always know what our audience segments want to be called. The older adult demographic prefers “seniors” over “elderly.” Lesbians and gay males consider use of the label “homosexual” as demonstrating cultural incompetence.
Consumer reaction to use of an identifying term also depends on who is doing the calling. In my email exchange about her study with Anabella Donnadieu Bórquez, now an assistant professor at The University of Texas at El Paso, she wrote, “Regardless of political orientation, Hispanic/Latino consumers are most receptive to this term when used by members of their own community (their Latin American friends and family). A possible implication of this research is that companies/brands recognized as part of the Hispanic/Latino community may have more success using Latinx in their advertising.”
Add to all this the individual differences within any demographic group and how people’s preferences change over time. Monitor the reactions of your customers and clients to how you refer to them and ask them what they prefer to be called.
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Conserve Tradition If Serving Conservatives
Image at top of post based on photo by Jhovani Morales from Pexels
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