Del Castillo revolutionized the landscape by portraying Teresa Mendoza, a gritty, powerful anti-hero running a global empire. It shattered the rule that women in Spanish media had to be submissive or morally pure to be liked.

For decades, women in Spanish-language media—particularly in television and variety shows—were often relegated to highly sexualized or secondary roles. The "pretty woman" archetype was frequently used as visual decoration rather than a driving force of the plot or production.