Marketers, please stop calling me Latinx

My first question when I heard the word “Latinx”—right after “How is that pronounced?”—was “Is that what we’re calling ourselves now?” Everyone from brands to universities to media outlets to city governments have started defining my Hispanic demographic with the Latinx brushstroke. Everyone, it turns out, but ourselves. And that has ramifications for marketers. I get why people are going there. Latinx is gender-neutral whereas Spanish is gendered. It’s inclusive. But lumping everyone into one label in the name of inclusivity, by nature, excludes a lot of people. Like me. I’m a second-generation Cuban-American who, like many with ties to Spain or the Caribbean, identifies as Hispanic—which is also gender-neutral. A majority of U.S adults who self-describe as Hispanic or Latino (61%) prefer Hispanic to describe the Hispanic or Latino population in the U.S., and 29% prefer Latino, according to a December 2019 Pew Research bilingual survey of U.S. Hispanic adults. Of the 25% of respondents who have heard of Latinx, just 3% use it to describe themselves—a number that is probably higher among Gen Z-ers. Pew said use is highest—14%—for Hispanic women ages 18 to 29 compared to 1% of Hispanic men in the same age group. Everyone should be empowered to embrace what fits—and reject what doesn’t. As a marketer, though, you have to know the difference. Subscribe to Ad Age now for the latest industry news and analysis. Inauthenticity for the sake of wokeness? There’s a reason why the word feels off for most people in my heritage. Just look at the first six words of its definition: “Latinx is an American English neologism.” Key words: American. English. What business do American English speakers have in changing the way Hispanics and Latinos are addressed? Latinx contradicts the very structure of Spanish and our culture. Yes, for people, gender is a construct. But the Spanish language, like most romance languages, is entirely gender-based. The door—la puerta—is feminine. The car—el carro—is masculine. Am I fighting for the inclusive rights of a door? Ad Age A-List 2022 Best agencies of the year, ranked Top production companies to know about Definitive rankings of advertisers and agencies That creates a challenge when you have to decide whether to put more importance on gender neutrality or cultural connection. For me, gender neutrality is something that must be respected, but it’s not one-size-fits-all. And that means marketers have to respect the fact that calling most Latinos “Latinx” will be, at best, confusing—and at worst, insulting, patronizing and arrogant. Don’t say something simply because it’s woke (or not woke, for that matter). Say it because that’s how people want to be addressed. So, when should you use Latinx? Just because marketers shouldn’t use Latinx as a blanket term doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t be embraced for appropriate communities. According to Pew, young adults and college graduates are most likely to have both heard of and use Latinx. Usage is higher among Democrats than Republicans, U.S.-born than foreign-born, women than men. Although the survey doesn’t provide data for gender-noncomforming individuals or members of the LGBTQIA+ community, a brand should absolutely use Latinx when talking to that population. Read more opinion stories from Ad Age Marketers have to do their homework rather than take 20 percent of the U.S. population—I don’t care if they’re Latino, Chicano, Hispanic, Latinx, Chicanx, whatever—and lump them into a single category. It might be OK to use Latinx for my college-aged daughter. But I know only because I checked. It comes down to marketing basics—and, you know, basic etiquette. You want a conversation with someone? Don’t blow it by calling them the wrong name.

Marketers, please stop calling me Latinx

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