Barilla: ‘Gays n eat someone else’s pasta’

Contents:

• BARILLA GO OM WORST TO FIRST ON GAY RIGHTS
• DID BARILLA PASTA'S CHAIRMAN MAKE ANTI-GAY REMARKS?
• 6 SCMPT PRO-GAY PASTAS
• BARILLA PASTA ANNOUNC 'DIVERSY AND INCLN' CAMPAIGN FOLLOWG GAY BACKLASH
• BARILLA PASTA BOYTT: CHAIRMAN SAYS GAYS CAN FD ANOTHER BRAND TO EAT, INTER REPLI "WILL DO!"
• BARILLA: ‘GAYS N EAT SOMEONE ELSE’S PASTA’
• PASTA MAKER BARILLA UNR FIRE FOR ANTI-GAY MENTS

BARILLA GO OM WORST TO FIRST ON GAY RIGHTS

“I would never do a mercial wh a homosexual fay, not for lack of rpect, but bee we don’t agree wh them, ” Barilla said on Italy’s bt-known rad talk show. If gay ctomers didn’t like that, they uld go buy another brand of pasta, he said.

The chairman, who turned 60 last year and has five children, further clarified that he opposed adoptn by gay parents.

DID BARILLA PASTA'S CHAIRMAN MAKE ANTI-GAY REMARKS?

He said a vio posted to Facebook that he has "always rpected every person I've met, cludg gays and their fai, whout any distctns" and "never discrimated agast anyone.

6 SCMPT PRO-GAY PASTAS

In 2013, the CEO of Barilla, one of the world’s biggt dried pasta brands, marred an otherwise anodyne terview about the pany’s legacy wh an egreg homophobic ment. “I would never do a mercial wh a homosexual fay, ” Guido Barilla said live on the Italian statn Rad 24, “not for lack of rpect, but bee we don’t agree wh them.

But the efforts, mendable as they are, may not have had a huge effect on Barilla’s bottom le — and ’s possible Guido’s homophobic ments didn’t eher. Acrdg to the Bloomberg report, Barilla’s revenue was better 2013, the year of the homophobic ment, than 2012. Like Barilla, Chick-fil-A’s CEO has a history of makg homophobic ments.

And both have CEOs who have ma homophobic ments the past. The chairman of the Barilla pasta brand once proclaimed he would never e homosexual upl his advertisements. The chairman of the Barilla pasta brand once said he would never e homosexual upl his advertisements.

BARILLA PASTA ANNOUNC 'DIVERSY AND INCLN' CAMPAIGN FOLLOWG GAY BACKLASH

In September 2013, Guido Barilla, the chairman of Barilla Group, one of the world's leadg pasta manufacturers, engenred ntroversy and prompted lls for boytts when durg the urse of an terview wh an Italian rad program, he rpond to a qutn about whether he would ever feature a gay fay his pany's mercials by sayg (as roughly translated to English): "We won't clu gays our ads, bee we like the tradnal fay. If gays don't like , they n always eat another brand of pasta. "I would never do (a mercial) wh a homosexual fay, not for lack of rpect but bee we don't agree wh them.

In the terview, Barilla said he opposed adoptn by gay parents, but was favour of allowg gay marriage, which is not legal Italy. His ment about advertisg was rponse to a direct qutn about whether he would ever feature a gay fay his pany's mercials.

If gays "like our pasta and our advertisg, they'll eat our pasta, if they don't like then they won't eat and they n eat another brand, " he said. Then the pasta magnate upped the ante by attackg gay adoptn. "I have no rpect for adoptn by gay fai bee this ncerns a person who is not able to choose, " he said.

BARILLA PASTA BOYTT: CHAIRMAN SAYS GAYS CAN FD ANOTHER BRAND TO EAT, INTER REPLI "WILL DO!"

- I have the utmost rpect for gay people and for everyone's right to exprs themselv. - I've also said — and I would like to reerate — that I rpect gay marriag. Not long ago, pasta-maker Barilla was jt one more major pany that had n afoul of the gay rights movement, a distctn earned last year when s chairman said he would never feature a same-sex uple an ad.

If gays didn’t like , he add, they uld eat somethg else. But a sign of how toxic has bee for a pany to be viewed as uniendly toward gays, Barilla has ma a dramatic turnaround the space of one year, expandg health benefs for transgenr workers and their fai, ntributg money to gay rights , and featurg a lbian uple on a promotnal Web se.

Some of the gay advot who have worked wh Guido Barilla sce his ments believe his ntrn is scere. “He was horrified at the nsequenc and his personal beliefs, ” said David Mixner, a veteran gay rights activist and thor who served as a nsultant for Barilla.

BARILLA: ‘GAYS N EAT SOMEONE ELSE’S PASTA’

"Italian Pasta Baron's Anti-Gay Comment Prompts Boytt Call. “I would never do an ad wh a homosexual fay… If the gays don’t like they n go an eat another brand.

“I have no rpect for adoptn by gay fai bee this ncerns a person who is not able to choose. If gays didn’t like , he add, they uld eat somethg a sign of how toxic has bee for a pany to be viewed as uniendly toward gays, Barilla has ma a dramatic turnaround the space of one year, expandg health benefs for transgenr workers and their fai, ntributg money to gay rights , and featurg a lbian uple on a promotnal Web se.

PASTA MAKER BARILLA UNR FIRE FOR ANTI-GAY MENTS

Barilla has journeyed om gay rights pariah to poster child — on Wednday received a perfect sre om a proment gay rights group that rat pani on their gay-iendls.

It is an about-face that highlights how pani, which typilly shy away om ntroversy, are creasgly beg forced to take sis the cultural battle over gay rights and same-sex marriage — and how cisively pro-gay forc have gaed the upper hoehold-name brands have also found themselv hot water over actns that were perceived to be anti-gay. Chick-fil-A stopped givg to certa anizatns 2012 after earng the ire of gay rights groups that acced the fast-food cha of supportg anti-gay pani were subject to boytts, though there has been a unter effort by socially nservative groups to support and embrace peril for pani is not short-term profs, bee boytts rarely affect revenue directly, said Mary-Hunter McDonnell, a profsor of strategy at Geetown Universy’s McDonough School of Bs.

“Really, boytts are about threateng a pany’s public image and reputatn, ” she said, and a tarnished brand n ultimately hurt the bottom the past, pani had to be reful not to offend groups that opposed homosexualy, said Bob Weck, a rporate crisis nsultant who specializ gay issu. Two s ago, Weck helped Amerin Airl weather cricism over s cisn to market to gays.