As election day draws near, Obama and Romney continue to get more fierce in their political advertisements. One theme of this year’s campaign is the high instance of Spanish campaign ads that have been translated to Spanish and some Spanish campaign ads that were created specifically for the Spanish audience.
Both candidates are desperate for the Latino vote, because it could sway the vote in their favor should they get it. In his latest attempt, Romney launched another attack ad against Obama that was in Spanish. Like most of Romney’s Spanish campaign ads, the subject of the ad is the lack of jobs and employment for Latinos in the U.S. thanks to Obama’s presidency.
New Ad is Better than Romney’s Translation Flop
While Romney’s ad is not necessarily original compared to the rest of his Latino ads in the campaign, it is much better than the botched Spanish translation ad he released a few weeks ago. One of his Spanish campaign ads was clearly a poor translation of an English ad to Spanish. While automated translation services work in certain situations, they should never be used when you’re trying to impress people, especially voters.
Inaccurate translations can often be offensive and confusing to those who speak the native language. Clearly, Romney learned his lesson, because this political ad was well translated, and he probably worked with Spanish-speaking professionals to create it.
The Spanish Vote is Crucial to Both Candidates
Obama’s win last year can be partly attributed to his focus on the Latino population. His official Spanish campaign ads helped him garner support, and he used a Spanish translator to speak directly to Latinos in person. Now, both candidates know the importance of the Latino vote, so they are both struggling to appear better in front of the Spanish-speaking population.
Many Latino voters live in the nine states that are most decidedly voting for Romney or Obama, so the opposite vote could switch the outcome.
Romney’s new ad is average in the scope of presidential campaign ads as a whole, but it is worlds better than the English to Spanish translation ads he was running before he got smart. When you’re dealing with something as important as a presidential election, you should never rely on automated translation services or computerized translators to do the work. Always work with professional translators to completely overhaul the text of the communication, or else you risk offending or confusing your audience.