Over a year ago the CEO of Barilla, Guido Barilla (there’s a name), made a public statement that he favors traditional families and there would be no same sex couple in his advertising.
<<In September 2013 Guido Barilla told an Italian radio host, “I would never do [a commercial] with a homosexual couple, not for lack of respect, but because we don’t agree with them,” according to reports. “Ours is a classic family where the woman plays a fundamental role.”
He continued: “If [gays] don’t like it, they can go eat another brand.”>>
Yeah, I ate another brand. Always one to hop on any bandwagon, I began boycotting the brand and mentally excoriating anyone I saw buying it. Once, I told a guy who was clearly gay not to buy it but, except for that one time, I bit my lip whenever I saw some unsuspecting, or worse, fully-aware-and-agreeing-with-the-sentiment shopper selecting some damn thing of the hateful and now hated brand.
Well, it seems my boycott worked. The company has scored a top rating in the Human Rights Campaign’s list of LGBT-friendly employers. On the one hand this is good news, I can now buy Barilla products, on the other, I wanna see a same sex couple in their ads.
Read it all here:
http://money.cnn.com/2014/11/19/news/companies/barilla-lgbt/