Barilla Pasta Causes Uproar by Refusing to Show Gay Families in Commercials
It looks like Chick-fil-A may not be the only company to have courted trouble with a controversial anti-gay stance.
Barilla pasta chairman Guido Barilla sparked an outrage on Wednesday when he said in a radio interview the company would never portray a gay family in its ads. Barilla is the world’s top pasta maker and one of the most well-known names in food around the globe.
During his interview with Italy’s Radio 24, Barilla opened up on the company’s opposition to homosexuals:
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 added that if homosexuals "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.”
After an Italian gay rights group issued calls to boycott the company, Barilla tried to back down in a statement, saying, “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."
[Reuters]