REINTERPRETING LATINO CULTURE IN THE COMMODITY FORM - THE CASE OF ALCOHOL ADVERTISING IN THE MEXICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY

This article details the ways in which the semiology of alcohol advert ising in the Mexican American community shapes attitudes and behaviors . The authors claim that the market-driven imperatives associated with the sale and purchase of liquor deny legitimacy to existing social pr actices in Latino communities and instead propagate a complex set of s tereotypes that draw on traditional Mexican cultural armature for thei r influence. In this process, the sign system of Mexican American comm unities is encoded from the outside to reflect the needs of alcohol ma rkets, while the authentic images of human lives are distorted.