The Briefing Room
General Category => National/Breaking News => Topic started by: mountaineer on September 26, 2013, 10:45:00 pm
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New York Post (http://nypost.com/2013/09/26/barilla-chairman-gays-can-eat-someone-elses-pasta/)
Anger is boiling over at the chairman of the Barilla pasta company after he vowed to only feature heterosexual couples in commercials — and added that anyone offended by his anti-gay stance could buy a different brand of noodles.
Guido Barilla told Italian radio on Wednesday that he would never use a gay family to promote the world’s leading brand of pasta, according to The Guardian.
“For us the concept of the sacred family remains one of the basic values of the company,” Barilla said. ”I would not do it but not out of a lack of respect for homosexuals who have the right to do what they want without bothering others…[but] I don’t see things like they do and I think the family that we speak to is a classic family.”
When asked if he was worried about a possible backlash from the gay community, he said: “Well, if they like our pasta and our message they will eat it; if they don’t like it and they don’t like what we say they will…eat another.”
His remarks immediately led Aurelio Mancuso, chairman of the gay-rights group Equality Italia, to say: “Accepting the invitation of Barilla’s owner to not eat his pasta, we are launching a boycott campaign against all his products.”
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He's already been forced to apologize.
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Italian pasta baron's anti-gay comment prompts boycott call
Reuters
By Steve Scherer | Reuters – 6 hours ago
Guido BarillaROME (Reuters) - Guido Barilla, chairman of the world's leading pasta manufacturer, prompted calls for a consumer boycott on Thursday after telling Italian radio his company would never use a gay family in its advertising.
"I would never do (a commercial) with a homosexual family, not for lack of respect but because we don't agree with them. Ours is a classic family where the woman plays a fundamental role," Barilla, 55, said in an interview with Radio 24 on Wednesday.
Barilla - one of the best known pasta brands around the world - is one of Italy's biggest advertisers, and for many years has used the image of a happy family living in an idealized version of the Italian countryside, with the slogan: "Where there's Barilla, there's home".
In the interview, Barilla said he opposed adoption by gay parents, but was in favor of allowing gay marriage, which is not legal in Italy. His comment about advertising was in response to a direct question about whether he would ever feature a gay family in his company's commercials.
If gays "like our pasta and our advertising, they'll eat our pasta, if they don't like it then they will not eat it and they will eat another brand," he said.
Aurelio Mancuso, head of gay rights group Equality Italia, said Barilla's comments were an "offensive provocation" and called for a boycott of the company's pasta, sauces and snacks.
"We accept the invitation from the Barilla owner to not eat his pasta," Mancuso said. Many Italians used social media to voice support for a boycott.
Alessandro Zan, a gay member of parliament, said on Twitter: "You can't mess around with consumers, including gay ones."
Barilla issued a statement on Thursday apologizing, explaining that he was trying to say "simply that the woman plays a central role in a family."
"Barilla features families in its commercials because it embraces anyone, and they have always been identified with our brand," he said.
Spanish film star Antonio Banderas features in the latest publicity campaign for Barilla's Mulino Bianco cookies and breakfast cakes. They feature him baking biscuits with children and talking to a chicken called Rosita.
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Some classic Italian recipes from Academia Barilla (http://www.academiabarilla.com/italian-recipes/default.aspx). 8888forgot
... Within hours, the hashtag 'boicotta-barilla' was trending on Twitter. The Barilla chairman issued a statement saying that he was sorry if his remarks had caused offence and that he had only been trying to draw attention to the "central role" played by women within the family.
"I apologise if my words generated misunderstandings or arguments, or if they offended the sensibilities of some people," he said. ...
The Guardian (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/26/pasta-firm-barilla-boycott-gay)
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Why on earth would the owner of a business want to scare off any potential or existing customers?
I don't care for politics intruding on business. Sell to everybody; green is green.