Pasta firm Barilla's ads to be more inclusive after gays criticise them
Italian pasta maker Barilla has responded to the global storm caused by its chairman's comment that he would never use a gay family in his advertising by saying it planned to make the company more diverse and run a more inclusive TV ad campaign.
Italian pasta maker Barilla has responded to the global storm caused by its chairman's comment that he would never use a gay family in his advertising by saying it planned to make the company more diverse and run a more inclusive TV ad campaign.
Guido Barilla's remarks to a radio interviewer in September led to calls by gay rights groups to boycott the products of the world's biggest pasta maker, a company more than 130 years old.
Social media quickly spread the comments that gave rise to numerous internet satires, including one posted on Facebook and Twitter showing the trademark blue Barilla pasta box with the letters "Bigotoni" on it rather than "Rigatoni".
Chairman Barilla, the 55-year-old great grandson of the company's founder, has since held at least eight meetings with gay organisations and activists both in Italy and in the United States, a market where it is counting on growth.
"Italy is a very insular country," company spokesman Luca Virginio said, adding that the firm had been shocked by the global backlash.
"The meetings have helped open our eyes and ears to the evolution taking place in the world."
He said the shock could lead to a shift in focus from rosy depictions of traditional Italian family life that have always been the staple of Barilla advertising campaigns.
"We are already working on new advertising concept that will be much more open and much more inclusive," he said, without elaborating.
The pasta maker plans to introduce an advisory board that includes American gay activist David Mixner to improve "diversity and equality in the company's workforce and culture", according to a statement posted on its website.
However, Carlos Dews, a gay English professor at Rome's John Cabot University who has boycotted Barilla products and urged his Facebook friends to do the same, was sceptical.
He said the measures were a step in the right direction but it was too soon to tell whether they would bring any real change.
"It may all be window dressing," he said.
