Chef behind Barilla Pasta is blatantly homophobic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am gay and have an adopted child. We will no longer be buying Barilla pasta.

We dont go to chick fil a either, Its not about how we will be treated in the restuarant, its about what they choose to spend their profits on. In chick fil a's case one of the companies they donate to is "focus on the family" They are an anti-gay family group and actively oppose legislation to benefit our civil rights.

I believe they have changed their policies if this Wikipedia article is correct:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick-fil-A_same-sex_marriage_controversy

[Anonymous]

Also see what happened with JC Penney over the Ellen Degeneres issue. By sticking with Ellen their sales went up in the short run.

Back on topic, I personally don't worry so much about companies or executives espousing politics I don't agree with unless like Dan Cathy did, they also state that they or the company take profits and lobby for the cause. If Chick-Fil-A profits had not been funneled into anti marriage equality causes I wouldn't have cared. But he made a point of stating that the company financially supported groups lobbying against marriage equality. At that point, my money no longer goes there.

However as we don't use Barilla products, this is a moot point for me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I buy according to the quality of the product, not according to the political views of the guy who owns the company. I am sure I have had food cooked or prepared by racists, homophobes, madmen and women of various stripes, libertarians, Catholics, Buddists, misogynists..who cares? If their dedication to the product is right then I will buy.

If they are doing something blatantly unethical like employing child labor that would be one thing, but you cannot choose your brand of prepared pasta on the basis of the CEO's views on gay adoption. It is just ridiculous.

If you buy according to the quality of the product, then you wouldn't buy Barilla, because their product is pretty darn crappy for dried pasta. So yay, win/win?

I understand people who want to buy what they want, when they want it, with a clear conscience. But I just can't do that. Those companies have profits, and they do shitty things and donate to shitty "causes" with those profits, that I would otherwise be helping to generate. You're free to buy what you want, but I can't in good faith, knowingly give money to a brand that I know goes what I believe in.

Well, as a matter of fact, I don't buy Barilla.

And as for whether homophobia is an opinion, the guy didn't say "everyone should go out and beat up gay people", he said that Barilla would not advertize using a gay family, and that he did not approve of gay adoption. The former is a legitimate business choice, and while I disagree with the latter, it is within the grounds of legitimate political debate. Probably half the people in Italy don't approve of gay adoption. If you went there on holiday, would you go to each kitchen and make sure that the chef approved of gay adoption before you ordered your tortellini in brodo? Don't you understand how many ingredients you have eaten that have been grown, prepared, or cooked by people whose views you would disagree with on many issues?

And as for whether homophobia is an opinion, the guy didn't say "everyone should go out and beat up BLACK people", he said that Barilla would not advertize using a BLACK family, and that he did not approve of INTERRACIAL adoption. The former is a legitimate business choice, and while I disagree with the latter, it is within the grounds of legitimate political debate. Probably half the people in Italy don't approve of INTERRACIAL adoption. If you went there on holiday, would you go to each kitchen and make sure that the chef approved of INTERRACIAL adoption before you ordered your tortellini in brodo? Don't you understand how many ingredients you have eaten that have been grown, prepared, or cooked by people whose views you would disagree with on many issues?

30 years ago, people said the same thing. When will be learn?

[Anonymous]

This is 14:40, I read the link above ref chick fil a, It doesnt say they won't be contributing to anti gay charities. It says they want to leave it to the government. Its not the same thing. ( unless I missed something?)

[Anonymous]

I'm always astounded when people discount homophobia, racism, or general bigotry just because a person/business/etc isn't advocating for violence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think what he said was that bad though. He's entitled to his feelings

Sure he is. And I'm entitled to not buy his products. Simple. I don't do business with people I don't like.

You see, this is where you are wrong. You do business all the time with people you don't like. That is why it is called business.

You have no idea of the views of the people behind 95 percent of the products you buy. Why not? because it doesn't matter. You just occasionally get behind whatever random boycott makes it to the attention of DCUM.

Actually I have a very good idea about the companies and products I invest in / purchase products in. I make it a point to be informed and dedicate time and effort to research where I invest, places I do business, and who I do business with.

It matters tremendously to me that the owners of companies I do business with and the companies themselves stand behind basic human rights, respect for their employees, respect for the communities they serve, and respect for the environment. To me, homophobia is a non starter. Hence, I do not frequent companies and / or companies with owners who subsidize anti-gay laws or encourage them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

And as for whether homophobia is an opinion, the guy didn't say "everyone should go out and beat up BLACK people", he said that Barilla would not advertize using a BLACK family, and that he did not approve of INTERRACIAL adoption. The former is a legitimate business choice, and while I disagree with the latter, it is within the grounds of legitimate political debate. Probably half the people in Italy don't approve of INTERRACIAL adoption. If you went there on holiday, would you go to each kitchen and make sure that the chef approved of INTERRACIAL adoption before you ordered your tortellini in brodo? Don't you understand how many ingredients you have eaten that have been grown, prepared, or cooked by people whose views you would disagree with on many issues?

30 years ago, people said the same thing. When will be learn?

30 years ago would you have asked the opinion of every cook or restaurant manager about interracial adoption before you ordered your fries?

[Anonymous]

Love their vegetable infused pastas.

[Anonymous]

So when was the last time prego did a gay family commercial? I don't think I have seen any gay family commericals for any other company in any industry as of today.

[Anonymous]

Hey, the chef was just being honest. Until you poll the other pasta brand CEO/whatever and find out their views, you can't really be certain of anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So when was the last time prego did a gay family commercial? I don't think I have seen any gay family commericals for any other company in any industry as of today.

Exactly. Most companies feel the same way, he was just dumb enough to say it

[Anonymous]

So the way I see it, there are maybe 30 poeple posting on here who are going to byocott Barilla pasta. This isn't going to get picke dup and become front page news anywhere.

That will make a huge impact, huge (imagine julia roberts in pretty women)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is 14:40, I read the link above ref chick fil a, It doesnt say they won't be contributing to anti gay charities. It says they want to leave it to the government. Its not the same thing. ( unless I missed something?)

Well, from my understanding they gave an ambiguous statement supporting fair treatment and choosing not to political. Which is a small win from being blatantly homophobic.

'For many months now, Chick-fil-A’s corporate giving has been mischaracterized, and while our sincere intent has been to remain out of this political and social debate, events from Chicago have once again resulted in questions around our giving. For that reason, we want to provide some context and clarity around who we are, what we believe and our priorities in relation to corporate giving.

A part of our corporate commitment is to be responsible stewards of all that God has entrusted to us. Because of this commitment, Chick-fil-A’s giving heritage is focused on programs that educate youth, strengthen families and enrich marriages, and support communities. We will continue to focus our giving in those areas. Our intent is not to support political or social agendas.

As we have stated, the Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect — regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender. We will continue this tradition in the over 1,600 restaurants run by independent Owner/Operators.'

Read more at http://www.snopes.com/politics/sexuality/chickfila.asp#Rcyx2RWORbEhOsF8.99

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So the way I see it, there are maybe 30 poeple posting on here who are going to byocott Barilla pasta. This isn't going to get picke dup and become front page news anywhere.

That will make a huge impact, huge (imagine julia roberts in pretty women)

The Barilla/homophobia story is actually front page on Yahoo and other major web pages/news sites, Gawker, Reddit, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So when was the last time prego did a gay family commercial? I don't think I have seen any gay family commericals for any other company in any industry as of today.

Exactly. Most companies feel the same way, he was just dumb enough to say it

Well, I mean, having a gay family would be a really poor marketing strategy. I mean, something like 2%, maybe 3% of the population is gay, fewer of them are partnered and even fewer of those partnered have children. It's kind of asinine to depict a gay family on TV since it isn't really relatable to potential customers.