Gay rights activists in Italy have launched a boycott on the world's leading pasta maker Barilla because of comments made by company chairman Guido Barilla the Guardian reported.
"For us the concept of the sacred family remains one of the basic values of the company," Barilla told Italian radio Wednesday evening according to the Guardian. "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."
Barilla made activists, consumers and some politicians, who are attempting to pass legislation about homophobic crimes in the country, angry when the pasta man indicated he would not use a homosexual family to promote his product.
"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," Barilla told the radio station.
The backlash was immediate.
"Accepting the invitation of Barilla's owner to not eat his pasta, we are launching a boycott campaign against all his products," Aurelio Mancuso chairman of Equality Italia said.
Barilla later apologized for his words saying he was only trying to bring attention the role women play in a family.
"I apologize if my words generated misunderstandings or arguments, or if they offended the sensibilities of some people," he said The Guardian reported.
The interview began when Barilla was asked about his thoughts were about an appeal to change the stereotypical depiction of women in Italian advertisements.
"There are some adverts ... which, when I see them, I think, 'but would this advert be broadcast in other countries? In the United Kingdom would this advert be broadcast?" said Laura Boldrini speaker of the lower house of parliament. "And the answer is certainly not. An advert in which the children and father are all sitting down and the mother is serving at the table cannot be accepted as normal."
