Cinco de Mayo is right around the corner – do you know what it actually celebrates?

If you're like many Americans, you may mistakenly believe this May five (“May 5” in Spanish) commemorates Mexicoits independence from Spain. Forty-one percent of American adults believe that Cinco de Mayo is MexicoIndependence Day, while 19% are unsure, according to a 2020 survey by the market research and analytics firm YouGov.

But Mexico's Independence Day is known as September 16, 1821, the day Catholic priest Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla asked his parish to resist the Spanish and began an 11-year war of liberation. Cinco de Mayo, on the other hand, marks the date of the Mexican military May 5, 1862, victory over France at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War.

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May 5, 1862 marked “a great symbolic victory for the Mexican government” and fueled the resistance

On May 5, 1862, Mexican President Benito Juárez gathered a group of 2,000 men—many of whom were either indigenous Mexicans or of mixed ancestry—and sent them to Puebla, a small town in eastern Mexico, to face with 6,000 e NapoleonicFrench troops. Despite being vastly outnumbered and lacking heavy artillery, Juárez's men forced the French to retreat—”a great symbolic victory for the Mexican government” that fueled the resistance movement. History.com.

Although the French would go on to win the Second Battle of Puebla the following year, people in the state of Puebla began celebrating the holiday as early as 1863. As Mexicans immigrated to the US, several small celebrations and festivals came with them, gaining in popularity in the mid-20th century on college campuses in response to the Chicano Movement's push for Mexican-American civil rights, Wine enthusiast reported.

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So why the mass confusion nowadays? Part of it can be attributed to an aggressive 1980s marketing campaign.

Coors spent more than $60 million marketing to Latinx consumers in the 1980s

When the mid-1980s began, Anheuser-BuschMiller and Coors they all started in the majors marketing pushes to reframe the holiday as a sort of “Mexican St. Patrick's Day” that could capitalize on a growing Mexican consumer base, to Wine enthusiast. Anheuser-Busch and Miller each merged Hispanic marketing departments to do so, and Coors sent more than $60 million in marketing to Latinx consumers after signing an agreement in federal court promising not to discriminate in its employment.

The push paid off for the beer companies — big time. Cinco de Mayo has become one of the biggest days for beer sales in the US: In 2022, the volume sales were 8% higher in the holiday week compared to an average week during the year, and commercial sales increased even more, with a 12% increase compared to an average week in the year, according to data reported by the Institute of Beer. BY quartz.

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Moreover, a 2018 survey by NationalToday.com, which surveyed 1,000 Americans about the holiday, found that 13% thought Cinco de Mayo “was just an excuse to drink” and that the top two intended ways to celebrate were “eating Mexican food” (59%). and “drinkable margaritas” (32%).

Of course, yes marketing around Cinco de Mayo and other culturally specific celebrations continue today, in countless numbers brands participating in social media. But companies that take the opportunity to recognize any of them would do well to consider why and how they're choosing to highlight — and avoid becoming one of those accused of paying lip service without any real intention or action behind it.