Pasta firm Barilla boycotted over 'classic family' remarks

[derspiess]

So a friend of mine posted on Facebook something to the effect of "OMG, another company I have to boycott-- wish people would just keep their mouths shut." 

Or maybe if it's that much of an annoyance to do another boycott, you could just ignore it & go on about your life?

[Richard Hakluyt]

I'm lucky since I don't buy Barilla pasta anyway. Think of the agonies of doubt and self-loathing, or, even worse, minor inconvenience, that this fortunate fact has saved me from 

[Eddie Teach]

I wish Marti was here so I could make a fat joke about him.

[garbon]

I just bought Barilla pasta last weekend because it was on sale.

[derspiess]

We have a cupboard full of it.  It has always been our go-to pasta.  Will need to keep it locked up next time my wife's friends are over

[11B4V]

I just bought Barilla pasta last weekend because it was on sale.

Be strong. No one think less of you.

I think I shall only buy Barilla.

[The Brain]

I always buy Barilla when I buy non-fancy pasta.

[Grey Fox]

I'm having American pasta for lunch today.

Michelina's

[garbon]

No one think less of you.

I think less of you though.

[11B4V]

No one think less of you.

I think less of you though.

I will take that as a compliment.

[garbon]

No one think less of you.

I think less of you though.

I will take that as a compliment.

Or you could take it as an opportunity to work on noun-verb agreement.

[The Brain]

Can I take it as a condiment?

[11B4V]

No one think less of you.

I think less of you though.

I will take that as a compliment.

Or you could take it as an opportunity to work on noun-verb agreement.

I'm the second generation standing upright. You expect far too much.

[garbon]

Can I take it as a condiment?

No, but how about a complement?

[garbon]

The tyranny of the gays!

http://news.yahoo.com/pasta-maker-barilla-tries-diversity-anti-gay-scandal-144339802.html

Italian pasta maker Barilla has called in experts to help overhaul its image and promote diversity in its ads after its CEO sparked outrage by saying he would never use gay couples in commercials.

American gay rights activist David Mixner and Italian Paralympics cyclist and ex-Formula One driver Alex Zanardi are among the high-profile international figures called in to advise the embarrassed company, a spokesman said Tuesday.

The pasta maker fought boycott calls after chief executive Guido Barilla gave an interview in September in which he said that "the concept of a canonical family remains one of the fundamental values of the business."

Asked if he would include a gay couple in one of his television commercials, he said: "We would not do it because ours is a traditional family".

"If (gay people) like our pasta, they can eat it. If they do not like it, if they do not like what we say, they can eat a different one," he added, sparking a major backlash and forcing the company to take to social media to apologize.

Barilla is the leading pasta company in Italy and a major exporter worldwide, with a turnover last year of 3.9 billion euros ($5.3 billion).

The Barilla spokesman said that the company's ads had already changed.

"We no longer see women in the kitchen in the latest Barilla ads, and it is men who do the food shopping," he said, citing a commercial in which Spanish actor Antonio Banderas bakes his own Barilla bread to eat with a group of men.

The company has also appointed a head diversity officer and will sign up to the Human Rights Campaign's corporate equality index, which rates companies on how open they are to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees.

The Barilla spokesman said the initiatives had "been in the works for over a year" and were not an attempt to clean up the company's image after the backlash over the CEO's anti-gay remarks.