Even the Boy Scouts, an all-American symbol of white, middle-class boyhood, is finally seeing the benefit of marketing to Hispanics — which make up 15% of today’s U.S. population and is growing by leaps and bounds every year. According to the Los Angeles Times, the organization has launched a marketing campaign targeting Hispanics through public service announcements, online marketing (including social networking messages) and Spanish-language materials.

M&Ms are the latest brand name to join in the race for the increasingly popular Hispanic consumer. The candy has tapped Hispanic stars Wilmer Valderrama and Christina Saralegui to appear in print ads for its “Inner M” campaign. The ads appear in this month’s People en Espanol and will run again in October.
M&Ms will further extend its brand presence in the Hispanic community by sponsoring this year’s ALMA awards, which celebrate Latinos in cinema, television and music.
M&M is just one of the many national brands that’s starting to advertise specifically to Hispanics. For more information on the rise of Hispanic marketing, check out DMNews’ special feature on the topic, coming out in print on July 28.

Within the last week my inbox has been inundated with “popular” search lists from various sources. While some have peaked my interest, others just left me confused (did “snowman” really get more hits than “Santa”?).

That said, Yahoo! Telemundo released its top searches of 2007 this week. Not surprisingly, rumors of Fidel Castro’s death prompted searches for “Cuba,” which was this year’s most popular news search topic, according to the site. Other popular news searches on Yahoo! Telemundo included Cecilia Bolocco, the former Miss Universe, as well as Hurricanes Dean and Felix. Immigration reform was another hot topic. Spiderman 3 was the most searched movie of 2007, followed by the Hollywood blockbusters Transformers, Harry Potter and Los Simpson. Shakira was the most searched woman and musician of 2007, while Don Omar and Fidel Castro were the most searched men of the year. The top sports searches included Major League Baseball, Copa America, Real Madrid and the World Wrestling Entertainment. Barbie was the top search favorite for kids, followed by Disney, Naruto and Pokemon.