Javier Maza

I was recently asked to media-train the spokespeople for a new impotence (erectile dysfunction) medication to be launched on the U.S. Hispanic market. If the training had focused on the messages only, the communication effort would have probably been a total failure. You cannot stand in front a Telemundo or Los Angeles-based La Opinión newspaper reporter and say: “Latinos, this is the solution for your impotence problems.” For starters, and for cultural reasons, no Hispanic ‘macho man’ would admit to being impotent, because it would be tantamount to accepting the end of his masculinity.

On another occasion, we gave media training to employees of a major hotel chain. In the mock interview, we asked questions about how many Hispanics worked at the company. The question was seen ‘out of line’ by the trainees. The next day, in an interview with a major East Coast Hispanic newspaper, the third question asked was precisely that one… and the spokesperson, of course, had no prepared response for it.

The cultural setting and worldview of a Latino reporter as a minority, immigrant and member of an immigrant family, is not the same as that of a reporter who has spent his entire life in this country and knows no “before” and “after” in his lifetime. A good media trainer specializing in the Hispanic/Latin American market should bear these aspects in mind, in addition to the language factor.

Maza Communications, Inc. is a Media Training firm serving clients targeting the U.S. Hispanic and Latin American markets. We know the difference between Media Training and Hispanic-Media Training. Because Maza Communications trains only spokepersons for the US Hispanic and Latin America markets. And we know this business better than anybody else because we are a professional team of former Latin America journalists, with both PR and corporate background.