From Joseba to Marlon: the new face of Spanish advertising

A couple with two logistics salaries takes home 3,000 euros a month. Landlords know it and price their rentals accordingly. The scene is not new, but the lead actor is: more and more Latin Americans are starring in ads from major brands in Spain, from Amazon to Carglass. The change is no accident.

Behind the smile of Dagmar, the Venezuelan who in two and a half years went from loading packages to manager at Amazon, or of Marlon Tovar, the Carglass technician who explains why they ask for your license plate, lies an advertising strategy that divides opinion. The brands defend inclusion and local talent; their critics see a deliberate displacement of native workers and an electoral nod to the growing Hispanic community.

The new brand ambassadors

Amazon Spain launched a campaign antiestéticaturing real employee testimonials. Dagmar, with her Caribbean accent, says she "arrived with her dreams in a suitcase" and that perseverance took her to manager. Carglass did the same with Marlon Tovar, based in Badajoz, replacing the legendary Joseba, who was the face of the company for years. The change did not go unnoticed: on YouTube, one comment sums up how part of the audience feels: "I'm not setting foot in a Carglass shop while Joseba isn't there. Get proge go broke."

The trend is accelerating. A later Carglass ad, set in Barcelona, shows a technician with an Argentine accent. The company has not explained the shift, but the pattern is clear: from local profiles to a growing representation of Latin American immigration.

Numbers that matter: work, costs and votes

The economic argument is twofold. On one hand, it is pointed out that logistics and workshop salaries allow an immigrant couple to earn 3,000 euros net, enough to absorb rents that price out young Spaniards. On the other, the availability of 600 million Spanish speakers as a potential labor force pushes conditions downward.

Politics comes into play. The PP (Spain's conservative People's Party) held a rally with posters reading "Latin America, capital of Spain," and Vox, which has traditionally shown sympathy for Hispanic immigrants as opposed to Maghrebi ones, finds itself at a crossroads. Meanwhile, supporters of this immigration point out that "those two Latinos have already paid more in social contributions than 90% of Congress and the million Segarro combined" — a claim that, though hard to verify, captures a stance.

Inclusion or social engineering?

The debate goes beyond advertising. Some see in these ads proof of real integration and opportunity for those who come to work. Others detect a deliberate strategy by companies to align with the "proge" discourse and, along the way, put pressure on the labor market. A marketing analysis would note that the young target audience, used to diversity on social media, responds better to these faces. But the middle-aged viewer, as one comment put it, "doesn't connect or simply switches off from the message."

The result is a generational and political divide. While some celebrate the image of a more inclusive Spain, others joke: "Spain is Quito." The question that remains is whether this representation reflects a real demographic change or an orchestrated campaign that, like everything in advertising, is trying to sell something more than windshields and packages.

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