Hispanic Ad Agencies Should Be More Afraid of Recession Than They Say They Are

(MoneyWatch)  Automakers slashed their Hispanic advertising budgets in the last quarter, demonstrating that execs at Latino-targeting shops were much more optimistic than they should have been earlier this quarter. In October, Hispanic shops were claiming they would be insulated from cuts because their media is so much cheaper and because Hispanics buy basics at higher rates than the general population. Cars, in particular, would hold up, agency execs said, as foreign manufacturers stepped in. Not true. Here's a list of Hispanic auto budget cuts from Ad Age:

• GM cut by 3 percent.
• Ford cut 23 percent.
• Chrysler cut 11 percent.
• Nissan cut 8 percent
• Hyundai cut 7 percent.
• Mazda cut 34 percent.
• Daimler cut 16 percent.

Honda, Volkswagen and Toyota did increase their budgets but not enough to offset the aggregate losses.

The cuts come as, once again, complaints arise regarding the ad world's unwillingness to hire minorities. Of course, that unwillingness plays to the advantage of Hispanic agencies because if Madison Avenue was fully integrated there would be no need for Hispanic shops. Nonetheless, the overall whiteness of the major networks is an indicator that there is no market demand from the client side to see minority staffing increased on their lead accounts.