By: Kelly Morris/The Seattle Lesbian—
After Guido Barilla of Barilla pasta, the world’s largest pasta manufacturer, said he would never do a commercial with a gay couple, the company has made a complete turnaround and have now received a perfect rating in the Human Rights Campaign’s annual Corporate Equality Index.
Last September, 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. Ours is a classic family where the woman plays a fundamental role. If [gays] don’t like it, they can go eat another brand.” [pullquote]Last September, 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. Ours is a classic family where the woman plays a fundamental role. If [gays] don’t like it, they can go eat another brand.” [/pullquote]
And that’s just what they did.
Harvard University quit supplying its cafeterias with Barilla pasta, GLAAD urged people to call their supermarkets and ask officials to speak out against Barilla’s comments and boycotts of the brand were held all over the world.
After realizing what weight his comments held, Barilla apologized on social media and also posted an apology video. [pullquote]Harvard University quit supplying its cafeterias with Barilla pasta, GLAAD urged people to call their supermarkets and ask officials to speak out against Barilla’s comments and boycotts of the brand were held all over the world.[/pullquote]
A year later, the company has truly made a change and now has health benefits for transgender workers and families, contributes money to gay rights causes, has instituted a diversity training for all 8,000 employees, and also features a lesbian couple on a website that urges families to eat together.
Some gay advocates who have worked with Barilla said they believe these changes are sincere.
“He was horrified at the consequences and his personal belief,” David Mixner, who served as a consultant for Barilla, said. He said this change was “the most all-encompassing effort to bounce back from an unfortunate misstatement that I’ve ever been part of.”
GLAAD spokesman Seth Adam said people should recognize people that go through an “evolution” in gay rights.
“I’m not giving anyone license to say things that are discriminatory,” Adam said. “However, I do think it’s okay to learn, and I think we’ve seen that in elected officials to everyday families.” [pullquote]A year later, the company has truly made a change and now has health benefits for transgender workers and families, contributes money to gay rights causes, has instituted a diversity training for all 8,000 employees, and also features a lesbian couple on a website that urges families to eat together.[/pullquote]
Last year, Barilla asked not to be rated by the Corporate Equality Index, which rates companies based on internal company policies and corporate citizenship. This year, Barilla got a perfect score of 100, something less than half of the companies receive.
“It is very unusual for a business to take on the full spectrum of CEI criteria in one year,” director of the workplace program for the Human Rights Campaign Deena Fidas said. “Some people may certainly speculate about the motivations here, but at the end of the day it’s irrefutable that at Barilla, you have LGBT-inclusive policies and practices…that were not there a year ago.”
