Does it bother you to see billboards from major brands written entirely in spani

1. 63

   aygabtuposted 12 years ago

   Does it bother you to see billboards from major brands written entirely in spanish?
   
   While driving around town there are billboards for alcohol to grocery stores to cell phone companies that are written entirely in spanish.  Should major brands be pandering to residents of the US for not speaking english?

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2. 73

   JT Waltersposted 12 years ago

   No, I live in Florida.;  We see it all the time.

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3. 72

   lone77starposted 12 years ago

   What about China Town? Signs in Chinese. Or Little Tokyo. Signs in Japanese. Or any other ethnic part of any city. Commerce goes after customers. That should be okay anywhere.
   
   What we should not do, though, is make Spanish an official language of the United States. I'm all for every citizen being multilingual, but it doesn't have to be Spanish. It could be Russian, German, Swahili or Basque.

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4. 72

   lburmasterposted 12 years ago

   Yes! It entirely irritates me. If you come to the states, learn our language. I live in Texas and see these all the time. It just gets on my nerves. I want to wack them across the head with a bat. Knock some sense into those heads.

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5. 63

   aygabtuposted 12 years ago

   lone77star, I would give an exception to China town like areas.  They are small hubs for certain ethnic groups and in cities like Boston, can be a tourist attraction.  Also, except for the older generation, 50+, I think you'd be hard pressed to find someone under 40 in any number of chinatowns not able to speak english.
   
   What I hate seeing is more on mainstream areas, along the highway or major street with your local grocery store with a billboard completely in spanish.  This isn't on the border with mexico and its not in an area dominated by hispanics. By putting up billboards in other languages, corporations end up pandering and making them feel it is ok to not learn english in this country.

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6. 78

   mattdigiulioposted 12 years ago

   Should they? Should they be "pandering" to any of us? Well, what you call pandering is advertising. The nature of a corporation is to make a profit, not to be humane or be ethical. Does it bother me? No. I think things should be different, but advertising to minority groups is just as detrimental as advertising to the majority.

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7. 89

   Doc Snowposted 12 years ago

   No, why would it bother me?  Am I supposed to be bothered every time I see an ad directed to women, since I'm a guy and therefore not the intended "audience?"  To WWW fans?  Teen-agers?
   
   And if I'm trying to sell someone something, why is speaking their language "pandering?"  I'm the one with the message, and it's in my interest to get it across--presumably it's no skin off their nose if I fail; they didn't ask me for a sales pitch.
   
   If you were to visit Mexico, or Germany, or China, would you be upset by English signage?  Would that be "pandering" to you, the tourist?

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8. 67

   onegoodwomanposted 12 years ago

   It does, being as we are not in Mexico or any Latin American country.
   
   
   I, wonder, if I were to visit, China, France, Holland, Mexico, Germany, or a host of other countries.............would I see " English" written billboards, detergent boxes, street signs, vending machines.............

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9. 79

   AnnaCiaposted 12 years ago

   Major brands will pander anyone who is the best market for them.  If I may, I will take the opportunity to enlighten a little.  First, yes, you will find billboards written in English in other countries.  Those countries where the big companies and corporations are connected all over the world care about marketing; marketing is reaching; reaching is diversity and growth.  Ex. If I want to reach others and make myself known, I will use 2 techniques: To know as much as possible about them and their language; and to create a symbol or logo for them to recognize my product no matter the language.  Some people worry too much about Spanish and other languages and billboards... embrace those things, what is wrong with that?

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