AIMM study shows Hispanic people feel underrepresented and stereotyped in the media

26th September 2022 BWM Staff

As National Hispanic Heritage Month – a time of celebration, culture and pride – gets started, a new report by the Cultural Insights Impact Measure (CIIM)™, released by the Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing (AIMM) shows that Hispanic people feel more invisible and stereotyped than any other group when it comes to their representation in television programs and movies.

AIMM’s latest Cultural Inclusion Accelerator™ Report Card leverages insights gathered by CIIM™ which has become an industry standard used by over 160 top brands to evaluate viewers’ perceptions of ads based on cultural attributes. CIIM tested nearly 800 TV shows and movies with over 69,000 evaluations of Hispanic viewers. Participants evaluated shows and movies based on 10 key cultural attributes: cultural values, representation, celebrations, pride, respect, identification, authenticity, unbiased, respect, and positive role models.

Key Hispanic findings include:

59% of Hispanic people said that they felt invisible or under-represented in media.
75% said they saw stereotypical portrayals in shows and movies.
Hispanic bilingual media viewers are 23% more likely than White Non-Hispanics to rate content with a D grade (Culturally Deficient).
The pipeline of Latino-themed content in English continues to be dismal.
Only three networks scored an A grade (Culturally Authentic): Univision, Telemundo, and ESPN, followed by 6 networks with a B grade (Above Average Culture): VH1, Peacock, CBS, ABC, CW, and NBC.
10 networks scored a C grade (Below Average Culture): Bravo, Fox, HBO, YouTube, OWN, FX, Hulu, Showtime, Disney+, and BET.
3 streaming platforms: Netflix, Prime Video, and Apple TV scored a D grade (Culturally Deficient).
The most culturally relevant genres are Live Sports, Novelas, News, Game Shows, Talk Shows, Reality, and Comedy/Drama.

AIMM’s findings align with broader industry trends. The most recent example: this year’s Emmys fell short when it came to championing diverse talent and stories. Of the 25 Emmy awards, only seven honored non-white talent, including three performers and four behind-the-scenes directors and writers. In specifically analyzing Emmy nominated shows, AIMM’s Cultural Inclusion Accelerator™ Report Card also found:

Hispanic people are 30% more likely than White Non-Hispanics to rate Emmy nominees with a D grade (Culturally Deficient).
Emmy nominees are more likely to be grade A (Best-In-Culture) for every multicultural segment except Hispanic Bilinguals.
The most culturally relevant Emmy categories among Hispanic Bilinguals are Variety Sketch Series, Short Form Comedy/Drama/Variety Series, and Structured Reality Programs.

Despite big promises made to invest in diversity and inclusion, the entertainment industry has a long way to go. AIMM is committed to holding the industry accountable and has a legacy of doing so. During the 72nd Annual Primetime Emmys, AIMM issued a powerful, award-winning PSA called, “Here,” featuring celebrities such as Lin- Manuel Miranda, Billy Porter, Daniel Dae Kim, and other A-list celebrities declaring their intention to stay both visible and vocal on-screen to ensure all identities are authentically represented.

“While we’re thrilled to see some progress made, we are unfortunately not surprised by our new findings, given we too feel stereotyped and underrepresented in the content we consume every day. It’s time for the industry to see US, see ME and see ALL, and we’re committed to holding the industry accountable to make real change,” said Lisette Arsuaga, Co-Founder of AIMM. “As a Latina woman, I’m tired of being invisible on-screen – or seeing Latinos and Latinas represented in ways that demean our segment. It’s time to put an end to this. As marketers, we have the power to invest in programming that celebrates us and does not denigrate us.”

Overall, according to the Cultural Inclusion Accelerator’s tracker, diverse audiences (Asian-American, Black, Hispanic, Indigenous Communities, LGBTQ+, and People with Disabilities) are 20% more likely to rate content as culturally deficient and 26% less likely to rate content as culturally authentic. Alarmingly, diverse audiences are also 1.5 times more likely to see stereotypes in content and 1.3 times more likely to feel invisible or under-represented, signalling it is time for real change to be seen.

To learn more about the report or get involved in AIMM, visit anaaimm.net.

About the Cultural Inclusion Accelerator™ Report Card Methodology

The Cultural Inclusion Accelerator Report Card is based on AIMM’s proprietary measure tool, CIIM™ (Cultural Insight Impact Measure) which has tested nearly 800 shows and movies, most of which were selected by utilizing the latest Nielsen audience composition data, while some additional shows/movies were included from trade publication reports based on inclusivity and storylines.

This ongoing study has over 275K individual CIIM Content evaluations across 7 segments (47K Asian, 64K Black, 5K Indigenous Communities, 69K Hispanics, 53K LGBTQ, 60K People with Disabilities, and 84K White Non-Hispanics). Respondents self-selected movies and/or shows that they are currently watching or have watched. From there, respondents were asked a series of questions on each of their selected shows or movies based on 10 key cultural attributes: cultural values, representation and celebrations, pride, respect, identification, authenticity, unbiased, respect, and positive role models. The cultural attribute scores are aggregated in a proprietary algorithm that determines their ultimate CIIM cultural relevance and score/grade.

About the Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing (AIMM)

ANA’s Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing (AIMM) was established in 2016 to provide corporations with viable solutions for growth by addressing opportunities in Multicultural and Inclusive marketing. Over the last five years, AIMM has tackled cultural and societal issues from Black Lives Matter to anti-Asian hate crimes to threats against the LGBTQ+ community – elevating the conversations, codifying support, and making an impact to ensure all groups are treated fairly through its #SeeALL with a mission to ensure our screens reflect the diversity witnessed on our streets.

AIMM comprises senior-level advertisers, media/publishers, research and data companies, ad agencies, and trade organizations, to spotlight the missed growth potential in Asian-American, Black, General, Hispanic, Indigenous Communities, LGBTQ+, and People with Disabilities markets. This extraordinary working group of industry leaders is transforming the way multicultural and inclusive marketing is seen and understood via an industry-wide reboot – the largest ever in this space. Beyond simply identifying where growth potential lies, AIMM shows its members (and the industry) how to best maximize this potential towards positive bottom-line impact. AIMM is the leading authority in the space.