U.S. advertisers using Spanglish

“To many viewers, the Spanish phrases may have been unfamiliar throughout the otherwise English advertisement. But they caught the attention of Oscar Barillas, a 38-year-old financial adviser who lives in Keller, Texas.

“I was like, wait, I am watching English TV, “ said Barillas, who moved from Guatemala 15 years ago and watches a mix of English and Spanish television. “The Spanish words really got my full attention.”

That is what advertisers had in mind. Known to marketing experts and linguists as “code-switching,” the technique is probing an undertapped market of bilingual consumers largely overlooked until recently, they say. That target audience enjoys the “Spanglish” blend of English and Spanish words and phrases.”

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