Hey, remember Jennifer Lopez? J.Lo? Inexplicable film career? Even more inexplicable music career? Yeah, she’s now co-founder of a “premium” mobile store, Viva Movil, aimed squarely at Latinos.
It’s really just a rebranded Verizon Wireless store. But, look, Jennifer Lopez!
“As an entrepreneur, empowering the Latino community is at the core of what I choose to have my businesses stand for and exemplify,” Lopez said during her presentation to the CTIA audience. She added that Latino smartphone customers don’t have any “specific place,” thus leaving Viva Movil to fill the void and “revolutionize the entire mobile experience.”
It’s pretty clear that Lopez is the key selling point; a quick visit to the company’s site and you might notice just a wee bit of star branding going on there. But beyond that, does Viva Movil make sense?
Maybe? Here’s the thing: it’s not like the major cellphone providers are blind to demographic changes. If you swing by the mall and hang out near the mobile kiosk for long enough, you’ll discover at least one guy on shift speaks Spanish. Also you’ll be labelled “that creepy guy.” But we’re getting off the point.
And honestly, it’s a bit condescending to lump all brown people together. “Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Guatemalans, they all speak Spanish, right? Right.” Anybody who has lived in a “Latino” neighborhood can tell you there’s a lot more to cultural identity then just language. We’ll see where this goes, but we suspect the next time we talk about Jennifer Lopez, we’ll have an even more inexplicable career choice to add to the list.