Pasta maker Barilla tri to make amends after chairman’s anti-gay remarks

Contents:

• BARILLA GO OM WORST TO FIRST ON GAY RIGHTS
• GAY RIGHTS ADVOT BOYTT BARILLA AFTER PRINT OF PASTA MAKER'S REMARKS
• PASTA MAKER BARILLA TRI TO MAKE AMENDS AFTER CHAIRMAN’S ANTI-GAY REMARKS
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• IN COUNTRY'S FIRST GAY-FRIENDLY AD, SON COM OUT OVER PASTA ITALY
• JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU
• BARILLA CHAIRMAN'S APOLOGY MANAG TO INSULT GAY FAI
• DID BARILLA PASTA'S CHAIRMAN MAKE ANTI-GAY REMARKS?
• BARILLA: ‘GAYS N EAT SOMEONE ELSE’S PASTA’

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. 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.

GAY RIGHTS ADVOT BOYTT BARILLA AFTER PRINT OF PASTA MAKER'S REMARKS

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 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 TRI TO MAKE AMENDS AFTER CHAIRMAN’S ANTI-GAY REMARKS

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.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS 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.

IN COUNTRY'S FIRST GAY-FRIENDLY AD, SON COM OUT OVER PASTA ITALY

His advice at the time was for the pany to expla to the opposn that this was simply a good bs more recently, opns have shifted dramatilly to the pot that is a posive for some pani to be viewed as supportive of gay rights, particularly among young ctomers, who might view cints such as the one articulated a year ago by Barilla as “stupid and backwards, ” he said. Starbucks, Nike and Microsoft, for stance, endorsed legalizg same-sex marriage Washgton state the se of Barilla — a 130-year-old pany based Parma, Italy, that is the world's largt pasta manufacturer — the blowback was fierce September 2013 when Guido Barilla told an Italian rad host, "I would never do [a mercial] wh a homosexual uple, not for lack of rpect, but bee we don't agree wh them, " acrdg to reports. "He ntued: “If [gays] don’t like , they n go eat another brand.

Harvard Universy dumped Barilla om s feterias, gay rights groups promoted nam of other brands of pasta, and Barilla's petors seized on the opportuny to prent themselv as more forward-thkg, wh Bertolli Germany postg a ment on s Facebook page promotg "pasta and love for all! ”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 lled the recent diversy iative “the most all-enpassg effort to bounce back om an unfortunate misstatement that I’ve ever been part of. ”Seth Adam, a spokman for GLAAD, a gay advocy group that has also met wh Barilla, said is important to acknowledge someone when they have unrgone an “evolutn” support of gay rights. It has broaned s anti-discrimatn policy to ver gay and transgenr pany also has donated money to the Tyler Clementi Foundatn, an anti-bullyg anizatn found by the parents of a gay Rutgers Universy stunt who mted suici, and featured a lbian uple on a Web se voted to urgg fai to eat more meals will same-sex upl be turng up any televisn mercials?

JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU

Guido Barilla apologized after sayg he would not e gay people pasta ads. 26, 2013 — -- The print of Barilla is apologizg for sayg that he would never e a gay fay the pasta maker's Barilla said an Italian rad terview that his pasta is for the tradnal fay and said gay people uld eat another pasta if they did not like his msage. "We accept his vatn to not eat his pasta, " said Aurel Manco, print of gay-rights group Equaly Italia, a statement Italian.

"Gay marriage is not legal add, "For clary, I would like to pot out that:- I have the utmost rpect for anyone, whout distctn of any kd. - 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.

Rters - Italian pasta maker Barilla has reacted to the global storm ed by s chairman's ments that he would never e a gay fay his advertisg by sayg planned to make the pany more diverse and n a more clive TV ad Barilla's remarks to a rad terviewer September led to lls by gay rights groups to boytt the products of the world's biggt pasta maker, a pany more than 130 years old based the provcial cy of media quickly spread the ments that gave rise to numero Inter satir, cludg one wily posted on Facebook and Twter showg the tramark blue Barilla pasta box wh the letters "Bigotoni" on rather than "Rigatoni". Chairman Barilla, the 55-year-old great grandson of the pany's founr, has sce held at least eight meetgs wh gay anizatns and activists both Italy and the Uned Stat, a market where is untg on for growth outsi s crisis-h home market. (Stefania D'Alsandro/Getty Imag)NYC Neighborhood bWeeklyThe bt eats your neighborhood and beyond"WINDOW DRESSING"The pasta maker plans to troduce an advisory board that clus Amerin gay activist David Mixner to improve "diversy and equaly the pany's workforce and culture", acrdg to a statement posted on s webse.

BARILLA CHAIRMAN'S APOLOGY MANAG TO INSULT GAY FAI

However Carlos Dews, a gay English profsor at Rome's John Cabot Universy who has boytted Barilla products and urged his Facebook iends to do the same, was said the measur were a step the right directn but was too soon to tell whether they would brg any real change. -based Human Rights Campaign's rporate equaly x, which rat pani' polici relatg to lbian, gay, bisexual and transgenr employe. In a sea of nned cktails, Gay Water wants to stand out.

In other words, where Bud Light has buckled unr prsure as bigotry grows agast the LGBTQ+ muny, Gay Water’s creator Spencer Hodson wants his new boozy brand to be the anthis of that. “The key issue that Bud Light tapped to was the fact that they didn’t unrstand their re dience and know enough about them,” Hodson, a gay man, told CNN about the ntroversy that began when the Anhser-Bch beer brand sent fluencer Dylan Mulvaney a n of beer. Gay Water, however, is out and proud.

The nned cktail is named after a lloquialism given to the popular mixed drk (vodka and soda) orred at bars by the gay muny.

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

“Puttg a product wh the word gay the tle is reprentatn self,” which he hop reclaims the word om the negativy ’s sometim associated wh. He thought of creatg Gay Water about a year ago while on a vatn wh his iend that had got a job wh the beverage dtry. The two chatted about the limed amount of gay people wh , and wh Hodson burnt out om his tradnal day job tech, started the nned cktail.

Hodson built up a strong social media followg on TikTok and Instagram durg Covid-19 and is g some of the money om that (as well as om iends and fay) to help fund Gay Water. “Gay is an umbrella term and the ia behd the brand is to be as clive as possible, which means we want alli, we want straight people to be part of this muny we’re buildg.”.

For now, Gay Water is sold largely onle (wh a few retailers) and four sugar-ee flavors — watermelon, lime, peach and grapeu — at lnch.

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

Gay Water might not have the ep pockets pared to s petors, like Whe Claw, but “even at small sle, pani of many siz are havg succs makg spir-based seltzers and premixed cktails,” Bryan Roth, an analyst for Feel Goods Company and edor of the alhol beverage newsletter, Sightl+, told CNN. “There’s lots of space the spir-based seltzer tegory which Gay Water n play, pecially if the brand n offer a cultural or emotnal nnectn that will feel more excg than the prospect of another peapple-flavored vodka seltzer om natnal or ternatnal rporatns,” Roth said. Of urse, other drks e the word “gay,” too, cludg Gay Beer and So Gay Rosé, Hodson noted, which are also tryg to reach the queer muny and offer them an alternative the straight-domated space.