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In English, the Sanchez ads promote “common sense conservative values,” “values of rural Texas,” cutting government waste, eliminating unnecessary programs, getting tough on crime, support for the death penalty and “holding taxes down.” In an ad that could just as easily have been produced by the NRA, Sanchez declared that “we don’t need more gun laws.”
But the Spanish-language ads never utilized the word “conservative,” never talked about being tough on crime or about Sanchez’ support for the death penalty. The Spanish ads didn’t mention the right to bear arms or cutting government waste or keeping taxes low.
They did, however, contain a number of veiled and not-so-veiled ethnic appeals to Hispanics. I got warmer, folksier, more intimate vibes being expressed through the Spanish ads, which often addressed the listeners as “my dear friends” or something similar. The Spanish-language ads emphasized that Sanchez “no se olvida de sus raíces” [hasn’t forgotten his roots] and was “el amigo del pueblo” [the friend of the people]. They often referred to “nuestra gente” or “nuestro pueblo” [our people]. Another lamented the fact that “nos falta tratamiento (sic, should be ‘trato’) con igualdad” [we lack equal treatment] and “nuestra gente buscan las mismas oportunidades de los demas” [our people seek the same opportunities as the others]. Unlike the English ads, “inmigrantes” and “colonias” were mentioned in the Spanish Ads. One ad said bluntly that “En toda la historia de Tejas nunca hemos tenido un gobernador de nuestro pueblo – méxico-americano” [In the entire history of Texas we have never had a governor of our people – Mexican-American].
When I was in Texas in October, I heard another ad on a Spanish-language radio station which didn’t appear on Sanchez’ campaign website. This ad was a blatant appeal to Hispanic solidarity to frustrate the Republicans, who according to the ad thought that Hispanics are lazy and won’t turn out to vote!
In contrast, one of Sanchez’ English-language ads promoted the virtue of “bipartisanship”!
This seems to be an emerging trend. Spanish-language political ads are no longer simply translations of English-language ads. They are now designed differently, to appeal to what are perceived as “Hispanic interests.” A recent California news article points out (read it here) that gubernatorial candidates Davis and Simon both “put on a different face in Spanish ads.”
“What’s the big deal?” some readers might ask. Don’t all politicians tailor their message to particular interest groups? Even in a monolingual society, pandering is a politician’s specialty.
Maybe. But at least in a monolingual society, an informed voter can more easily monitor what a politician is saying to another audience. America’s hapless English-speaking majority, on the other hand, is blissfully ignorant of most of what is being said in the parallel Spanish-language media, whether it’s politics, journalism or entertainment.