Recontextualizing ideologies about social difference in New York Spanish-language newspaper advertising

► El Diario, as a Spanish-language newspaper, sells a discrete audience based primarily on class and ethnic traits. ► One advertising strategy is to utilize notions about other groups in marketing for and of Hispanic consumers. ► In El Diario, virtual advertising figures frequently depict types of individuals who are not the target audience. ► The linguistic signs in the ads affirm and constitute this contrast. ► By contrast, in the New York Post's advertising, virtual figures almost always approximate the imagined reader.