The chairman of Italian pasta company, Guido Barilla, said during an Italian radio-show interview that his pasta company would never show a same-sex couple. His statement has received backlash from LGBT groups and now, from other pasta companies who are taking advantage of Barilla’s statement.
During his interview, Barilla reportedly that if gay people “"like our pasta and our advertising, they'll eat our pasta. If they don't like it, then they will not eat it, and they will eat another brand” and that his pasta “would never” feature a gay couple – according to AdWeek.
Immediately after, petitions began circling the internet -all demanding either an apology or a relinquishment of title from Barilla. The Chicago Tribune is reporting on the various petitions and notes that the biggest one is a MoveOn.org petition with over 85,000 signatures.
People involved with the LGBT movement aren’t the only ones responding – Bertolli posted this on its Bertolli Germany page:
The United States section of Bertolli has not been as flamboyant as its Germanic counterpart, however the brand has been LGBT-approved – just take a look at this commercial from eras passed: