Editor’s Note: This article keeps going viral on social media. Within days, Barilla’s chairman apologized and the company made a complete turnaround on LGBTQ issues. In 2017, they were listed as the “most improved” company when it comes to supporting the LGBTQ community.
Gay rights advocates are calling for a boycott of Barilla, the world’s leading pasta maker, after it’s chairman said he would never feature a gay couple in his advertisements.
Related: Barilla’s comeback from antigay abyss stirs the pot in Italy’s marriage battle
Guido Barilla, whose company has almost half the Italian pasta market and a quarter of that in the U.S. said on an Italian radio broadcast Wednesday: “I would never do an advert with a homosexual family…if the gays don’t like it they can go an eat another brand.”
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“For us the concept of the sacred family remains one of the fundamental values of the company,” he said, according to a report in The Independent.
Barilla went further, attacking gay parents and adoption.
“I have no respect for adoption by gay families because this concerns a person who is not able to choose,” he said.
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 his invitation to not eat his pasta,” said Aurelio Mancuso, president of Equality Italia.
By midday, the hashtag #boicottabarilla (boycottbarilla) was trending on Twitter, incited in part to outrage voiced by some Italian politicians.
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Facing a potential global boycott of his products, Barilla went into damage control Thursday afternoon to reinforce its “respect” for gays in a statement attributed to its chairman:
“I’m sorry if my comments on La Zanzara have created misunderstanding or polemic, or if I’ve offended anyone. In the interview I only wanted to underline the central role of the woman in the family,” he said.