Hispanic billboard offends some

Posted Jan 27th 2006 9:03AM by Adam Finley
Filed under: Gripes, Outdoor

Here's a secret: When I'm driving, I like to sing along to the Hispanic music stations.

Here's another secret about me: I don't speak Spanish.

If I did, perhaps I would have understood better the rhubarb that this billboard caused. The advert is for LA LEY 107.9 in Chicago and shows a row of ladies showing off their behinds to promote a contest called "25 Pegaditas." Well, actually it's one lady copied several times, but whatever. The contest invites listeners to name 25 songs in a row to win a cash prize. A group called Females United for Action has come out against the billboards. They claim the word "pegaditas" could be a play on the word "pegar" which means "hits" which would create a double entendre meaning both "hit songs" and "spanking." I guess I'm not knowledgable enough of the Spanish language to be offended by that.

Reader Comments

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1. Last year Liberman Broadcasting, owners of Spanish-language TV stations, ran a billboard which read "Los Angeles, California". Except, the CA part had been crossed out and replaced with the word "Mexico". It caused a bit of a controversy, and even Arnold spoke out against it.

There's also a radio station called "La Raza" ("The Race"), and many billboards promoting it and saying things like "El Cucuy es Raza" (Cucuy being their morning host).

Those are a bit more offensive than this.

Posted at 1:52PM on Jan 28th 2006 by IR

2. To the previous comment "The Race" in Mexican Spanish means "the people" or "our people". So, in this case, the meaning is "Cucuy is our people", like everyday people, a countrymen, etc. Not offensive at all.

Posted at 3:27AM on Feb 6th 2006 by Jennifer Woodard Maderazo

3. "Raza" is derived from "la raza cosmica", a term used in a 1925 book and representing the mixed races of the new world. The spin is that it's a term of inclusion rather than exclusion. However, if "Cucuy" is "raza", then certainly others are not "raza". It represents one specific group, which is almost always of one race, even if that one specific race is mixed (mestizo).

It's a bit like Ray Nagin's "chocolate" remark. He claims he meant dark chocolate + white milk, but anyone who isn't a complete dupe knows what he really meant.

Posted at 2:27PM on Feb 6th 2006 by IR

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