For the first time in its history, Target Corp. will offer a collection of products to celebrate Latino Heritage Month, which the Minneapolis-based retailer said aims to highlight themes of family, Latina empowerment and Latino pride.
The product assortment includes tops for adults and children, displaying Spanish writing, books and movies. It also includes Latino-owned brands, such as frozen food company Cocina 54, and exclusive products designed by Latino artists.
In all, Target will highlight more than 80 items as part of the Más Que (Spanish for "More Than") marketing campaign meant to show that there is more to the Latino culture than meets the eye.
"We already have so many amazing Latino-owned brands we work with that it felt natural to showcase them in an exclusive collection to further support their businesses, as well as to commission standout Latino artists to create special designs specific to this themed assortment," said Target Senior Buyer Liz Hernandez, in a Target blog post.
Target has continued to expand its product lines and highlight items created by and celebrating people of color. In February, the retailer featured its largest assortment ever for Black History Month. As it has long done with Black History Month, Target employees also helped plan and design the assortment for Latino Heritage Month.
Latino Heritage Month — or what many refer to as Hispanic Heritage Month — stretches from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. It seeks to recognize "the contributions Americans tracing their roots to Spain, Mexico, Central America, South American and the Spanish-speaking nations of the Caribbean have made to American society and culture," according to a description from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The Sept. 15 kickoff is significant because it marks the anniversary of the independence of five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, while also nodding to the independence of Mexico on Sept. 16 and Chile on Sept. 18.
Target said it has invested more than $1.1 billion in the last five years in Latino-owned suppliers, media companies and philanthropic causes such as the Hispanic Scholarship Fund. According to Target's most recent workforce diversity report, Hispanic or Latino workers make up 26% of the retailer's total workforce.
