Chicano Culture Remains Bold, Beautiful, and Defiant

Love it or hate it, Chicano culture is one of the most dynamic cultures ever organically created.

In 2021, 7-Eleven launched a new ad campaign showcasing Chicanas on lowrider bikes, cruising through the parking lot of a convenient store with Big Gulps.

The ad, directed by Harmony Korine, quickly went viral and preceded a spate of ads targeting Mexican Americans by everyone from Modelo to Facebook to O'Reilly Auto Parts.

For the most part, 7-Eleven’s ad was well received. But it wasn’t without its critics. As usual, there were grumblings about “negative representation” and “stereotypes.”

One person even complained that the ad was neither realistic or reflective of most U.S. cities (an impossible demand for any campaign to meet when you think about it).

Ultimately, however, most of the criticisms were predictable. Why? Because they were the same criticisms that have been hurled at urban Chicano/a culture for decades.

Yet when the usual criticisms of Chicano culture are picked apart, you will find that they are almost always masking a deeper problem altogether: The critic’s own lack of context.