ROME — An executive of the Italy-based pasta maker Barilla has apologized for hurting anyone’s “sensitivity” after saying the company would never feature ads depicting gay families.
Chairman Guido Barilla’s comments Wednesday in an Italian radio interview triggered calls to boycott his company’s products, which include cookies and bread.
Many of the company’s ads depict heterosexual parents with children gathered for breakfast or dinner.
Barilla says he supports gay marriage but not adoption since it would be “complicated” for same-sex couples to raise children.
After calls mounted on Twitter for boycotts, he reiterated his backing for gay marriage in a statement Thursday, but insisted that traditional families have always been “identified” with the Barilla brand.
Comments are not available on this story. Read more about why we allow commenting on some stories and not on others.
We believe it's important to offer commenting on certain stories as a benefit to our readers. At its best, our comments sections can be a productive platform for readers to engage with our journalism, offer thoughts on coverage and issues, and drive conversation in a respectful, solutions-based way. It's a form of open discourse that can be useful to our community, public officials, journalists and others.
We do not enable comments on everything — exceptions include most crime stories, and coverage involving personal tragedy or sensitive issues that invite personal attacks instead of thoughtful discussion.
You can read more here about our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is also found on our FAQs.
Show less