Early in March Pepsi launched YO SUMO (I Add Up/I Count), an initiative that encourages US Latinos to fill out the 2010 Census as well as celebrating the lives of individuals within the Hispanic community. They launched an interactive website that encourages Latinos to share their own stories of what is like to be a Latino, especially here in the United States where the Latino population is rapidly growing. They have an opportunity to post their own stories on Latino art, culture, tradition, values and so on.

To help with their initiative, Pepsi YO SUMO teamed up with actress Eva Longoria Parker to produce and direct a film documentary that portrays the lives of several individuals, each from diverse Latino backgrounds. The film, which is called Latinos Living the American Dream, will help viewers experience the value and power of the Latino identity and break certain negative stereotypes.

“I can attest to the unique ways in which we, as Latinos, enrich this country with our contributions and inspire people everywhere to progress and succeed. So for me it’s a great honor that Pepsi has invited me to join part of a project as relevant and important,” said Eva Longoria Parker. “I think every Latino has an impact, whether large or small. Now more than ever, it is time to help tell stories that make this wonderful community, to motivate other individuals to be heard, seen and counted.”

To help boost their media presence, Pepsi partnered with both Telemundo and mun2 for television programming and online communications. I was excited to find out that Dieste, a successful Hispanic marketing agency in Dallas, lead the YO SUMO campaign developing commercials in both English and Spanish for television as well as a complete digital campaign for the website and Facebook.

I hope to interview Dieste’s president, Aldo Quevedo at the pre-screening and I’ll post my review about the documentary later this week .

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• Acclaimed Documentary Film Aims to “Shred the Pages of Textbook History” in US Schools – Unveils National Curriculum Initiative (prweb.com)
• Eva Longoria Parker recognized for her role in Latino causes (mysanantonio.com)
• Growing signs that Latinos will jam polls (nydailynews.com)