Sunday, September 29, 2013

The Barilla Boycott (Updated)

Poor Guido Barilla, he has had a hell of a long weekend due to his big mouth and airing his thoughtless bigotry.

One would think that chairpersons of large International companies had staffers to coach them and guide them at every step, especially when meeting the media, but somehow it is refreshing to sometimes actually hear one of them speak his honest opinion, even if it is to the detriment of his family and their business.

The guardian.com.uk has this brilliant summary of how it all started going sour for poor Guido on Thursday:
Guido Barilla, who controls the fourth-generation Barilla Group family business with his two brothers, sparked outrage among activists, consumers and some politicians when he said he would not consider using a gay family to advertise Barilla pasta.
"For us the concept of the sacred family remains one of the basic values of the company," he told Italian radio on Wednesday evening. "I would not do it but not out of a lack of respect for homosexuals who have the right to do what they want without bothering others … [but] I don't see things like they do and I think the family that we speak to is a classic family."
Asked what effect he thought his attitude would have on gay consumers of pasta, Barilla said: "Well, if they like our pasta and our message they will eat it; if they don't like it and they don't like what we say they will … eat another."
In response, Aurelio Mancuso, chairman of Equality Italia, accused Barilla of being deliberately provocative. "Accepting the invitation of Barilla's owner to not eat his pasta, we are launching a boycott campaign against all his products," he added.
Although poor Guido, his family and the company have since worked tirelessly trying to rectify his faux pas with a written statement and a video of poor Guido being forced to read the statement (both posted prominently on the company website), these attempts however don't have the same honest ring to them as when he spoke from his heart. They therefore fail miserably in convincing anyone.

Bock in SecondLife recommends all its readers (gays and straight allies) to follow the recommendation of poor Guido Barilla himself and refrain from purchasing any products belonging to that particular group of bigoted misogynists and homophobes. I am joining the Barilla boycott and will certainly not be forcing my pink money on products from a company that doesn't accept me and my kind. The thing I will miss most due to this decision is actually not the pasta, but my preferred "knäckebröd" (the Swedish hard-rye crisp bread) from Wasa.

The brands in the Barilla Group are
Barilla,
Mulino Bianco,
Voiello,
Pavesi
,
Academia Barilla
,
Wasa
,
Harry’s
(France and Russia),
Misko (Greece), 
Filiz (Turkey),
Yemina and 
Vesta (Mexico)
---

Update September 30, 2013
Josh Rimer, a Canadian YouTube Marketer, has made a parody of poor Guido's insincere apology. My thanks to Anonymous for informing me about it in the comments to this post.

5 comments :

  1. I will join you in the bojcott Bock gladly. And btw isnt Leksandsknäcke, another brand that don´t belong to Barilla? ;)

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  2. Go buy fresh pasta instead, the type that has to be refrigerated. It tastes SO much better than the dried stuff, and only cooks in about three minutes. It is not that expensive -- I bought a box of Buitoni (which is pro marriage equality) fresh Linguini at Publix in Florida for $2.29 yesterday and it is SO much better. I like their dried pasta too when I do eat it.

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  3. barilla pasta is overpriced and not very nice so thats not going to be a problem not buying hahaha...wasa hmm really... ica and coop also have hard bread that are equally good but so much cheaper wouldnt buy wasa even if they payed me to do it

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  4. I'm not going to buy any more Barilla pasta and I don't believe that the owner is sorry. There's a parody of this whole thing at http://youtu.be/2y1l_OFOvyM and I think the guy in that video is just as sincere as Guido with his apology! lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ROFL I love it, thanks for pointing my attention to it. I am going to add it to the post! ;)

      Delete

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