In the U.S., mainstream news outlets are producing some of their content in both English and Spanish, increasing the chances that people from different racial and ethnic backgrounds encounter the language in their information environment. Past research shows that casual contact with the Spanish language can sometimes increase exclusionary attitudes among White Americans, and that these effects extend to exposure through political news, but not necessarily non-political content. This paper examines whether and how incidental exposure to Spanish in political and entertainment news affects the attitudes of both majority and minoritized audiences. The hypotheses were tested through online survey experiments that exposed participants to both types of news while manipulating the availability of Spanish-language text and links, which provides causal evidence of language effects on people's attitudes. The findings contribute to our understanding of how group cues in an increasingly diverse media landscape may affect public opinion.

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The ongoing shift in the racial and ethnic makeup of the U.S. has been accompanied by the rise of cultural appeals, including the occasional airing of Spanish-language commercials in mainstream English-language networks. In this paper, I examine whether and how exposure to Spanish in non-political ads shifts opinions about immigrants and immigration policy. While past research generally finds that incidental contact with the Spanish language can increase exclusionary attitudes towards immigrants among the racial majority, commercials often provide subtle exposure to foreign languages without posing a significant communication barrier in a context that is not necessarily meant to be political. Thus, ads allow me to test the minimal conditions necessary for language cues to lead to opinion change. The hypotheses were examined through a series of survey experiments.

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