NEW YORK - As most everyone knows, Hispanics are now the fastest-growing population segment of the United States, and by 2050, this country will have more residents speaking Spanish than any other country. A new study has found that the traditional methods marketers have used to approach this group are becoming less effective, Marketing Daily reports.

The Futures Company??s "Hispanics in 2025" found the changes stem from the weakening Latino culture and the "strengthening pull of the market forces of mainstream society." The study claims that economic status, family, immigration and religious affiliation are losing their importance to Hispanics.

"There are many reasons to wonder whether the up-and-coming generation of Hispanics will be able to get by without adding some dimensionality beyond Latino culture to its definition of identity and success," said J. Walker Smith, who wrote the report. "Economic necessity and market forces are going to present them with the need to cultivate more mainstream routes to success."

Smith said in 14 years, the Hispanic marketplace will look vastly different. "It is not simply more of what we see in the marketplace today. The marketplace itself will be tougher, yet also richer in diversity, sharper in distinctiveness and more generous in possibilities. But much more than Latino culture alone will matter," he said.