Barilla pasta gays can eat another brand
Pasta Barilla boycotted after CEO’s ‘homophobic’ remarks
Guido Barilla suggested gay customers could attempt other brands if they didn't like the company's anti-LGBT stance--so they're taking him up on it.
Gay rights groups are boycotting Pasta Barilla after the company’s CEO, Guido Barilla, said Wednesday on an Italian radio show, “I would never do an advert with a lgbtq+ family.” Barilla went on to say that his company’s gay customers could move elsewhere if they didn’t like his stance.
“If they like our pasta and our message they will eat it; if they don’t like it then they will not meal it, and they will eat another brand,” he said.
After Barilla’s comments on Wednesday, Italian LGBT groups were calling for a boycott of the company—which includes 20 brands. His statements came as Italian legislators are attempting to pass legislation against homophobic crimes.
“We accept the invitation from the Barilla owner to not eat his pasta,” said Aurelio Mancuso, leader of the LGBT rights group Equality Italia.
Alessandro Zan, an openly gay member of Italy’s parliament tweeted, “You can’t mess around with consumers, including male lover ones.” Zan called on other members of the Italian legis
US rights groups urge boycott of Barilla pasta after anti-gay remarks
US and international gay rights supporters own called for a boycott of Italian pasta maker Barilla, whose chairman said he would never movie a gay family in the company's advertising.
The comments sparked a firestorm of protest on social media and resulted in online petitions in English, German and Italian, including one by Italian playwright and Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo.
A MoveOn.org petition started by Beth Allen, a lesbian mother-of-two from Maryland, had garnered 85,000 signatures by Friday evening.
"Guido Barilla made it clear how he felt about families like mine by saying that he'd never display gay families in advertisements for Barilla," Ms Allen said in her petition.
"He said that gays could eat another pasta if they didn't like his message. I'm taking him up on that and so should you," she said.
Chairman Guido Barilla, 55, sparked the controversy with comments on Wednesday to an Italian radio station.
"I would never do (a commercial) with a queer family, not for lack of respect but because we don't agree with them. Ours is a classic fam
Gays can eat another pasta: Barilla chairman
Gay rights activists in Italy and in the US hold launched a boycott of world foremost pasta maker Barilla, after its chairman said he would not show male lover families in the firm's ads, and if people objected to that, they should feel free to eat a different kind of pasta.
Guido Barilla, who, with his two brothers, runs the family-owned firm founded in 1877, was asked in a interview with Radio 24, if adverts for his firm would ever highlight a gay family.
"We have a slightly different culture," he replied.
"For us, the concept of consecrated family remains one of the fundamental values of the company. Ours is a traditional family. If gays favor our pasta and our communication, they will eat our pasta. If not, they can escape it and consume another brand. You can't please everyone in order to displease no-one.
"I wouldn't do an ad with a lgbtq+ family not because I disrespect gays - they own their right to do whatever they want without disturbing others - but because I don't think like them and I ponder that the family we try to address is anyway a classic family," he added.
Asked what e
Gay Rights Advocates Boycott Barilla After President of Pasta Maker's Remarks
Sept. 26, 2013 — -- The president of Barilla is apologizing for saying that he would never employ a gay family in the pasta maker's ads.
Guido Barilla said in an Italian radio interview that his pasta is for the traditional family and said gay people could eat another pasta if they did not love his message.
"We consent his invitation to not eat his pasta," said Aurelio Mancuso, president of gay-rights group Equality Italia, in a statement in Italian.
Boycotting Twitter users common the hashtag #boicottabarilla, or "boycott Barilla."
But Barilla quickly walked back his comments.
"With reference to remarks made yesterday to an Italian radio program, I express regret if my words have generated controversy or misunderstanding, or if they injure someone's sensitivity," Guido Barilla said in a statement. "In the interview I simply wished to underline the main role the female plays within the family."
Gay marriage is not legal in Italy.
He added, "For clarity, I would like to show out that:- I have the utmost respect for anyone, without distinc
Barilla Has Decided To Prevent Hating Gay Pasta Eaters
In belated September, the chairman of the world's largest pasta manufacturer offended people on several continents when he told a radio interviewer he would never comprise a gay family in his advertising.
Though many expressed their outrage, Barilla chairman Guido Barilla's initial response to the outpouring of vitriol was a guarded non-apology clarifying that he only meant to utter that "the woman plays a central role in a family."
But even when the most impassioned moral argument falls on deaf ears, a well-targeted boycott can do the trick. A day after male lover rights groups in both the U.S. and Italy called for consumers to prefer pasta brands with friendlier stances toward the male lover community, Barilla issued a series of mea culpas promising a dialogue civil rights leaders, and now the company has entirely reversed course.
In comments published yesterday by Reuters, Barilla announced it would work to produce the company more diverse and said it would create an ad campaign that is more inclusive than the previous ads that depicted only traditional families.
The company has brought in U.S. gay activist David