When Blue Jays rookie Vladimir Guerrero Jr. strides into the frame in the opening moments of his first American Express commercial, a dilemma quickly presents itself onscreen.The 20-year-old baseball star was born in Montreal but grew up speaking Spanish in the Dominican Republic, and doesn’t use English in public. Fans greeting him in the ad are Canadian, and don’t figure to speak Guerrero’s language.But then they greet him.“Hola,” says one fan.“Que lo que,” says another.A raw beginner could learn “hola” within minutes of downloading a language app. But if you use “que lo que,” you’ve probably been speaking with Dominicans, and the detail highlights trends long developing at the nexus of baseball, marketing and multiculturalism.In fronting a national ad campaign before mastering English, Guerrero is defying sports marketing orthodoxy. And the short conversations in the commercial, along with MLB’s evolving attitude toward Spanish, suggest contemporary stars from various backgrounds can bore big holes in previously solid language barriers. Players like Guerrero recognize the importance of learning English as they adjust to Toronto, but the city is also picking up Spanish as it welcomes its new star.“Every day I’m improving a little more,” Guerrero said in a recent interview. “I’m learning more words, trying to learn the basics well and (eventually) talk to the press in English.”Guerrero was interviewed for this article in Spanish but he often speaks English to teammates and Jays employees. The team behind the American Express ad thought it was more important to portray Guerrero at his most relaxed, which meant letting him speak Spanish on camera. They even had native speakers of Dominican Spanish revise the scripts.“Taking a video like this and doing the video in Spanish, to us it just highlights the diversity of Canada,” said Lauren Dine ...
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