Politicising Pasta

Love and pasta for all. (x)

A couple of weeks ago, the chairman of Italian pasta company, Barilla, caused controversy by saying that his company would never create an advert featuring gay people, because “I don't think like them and I think that the family we try to address is anyway a classic family." Guido Barilla, the chairman, later apologised, saying that he was merely trying to point out that women play a central role in the family.

His apology, however, did nothing to mollify the many LGBT people and allies who vowed to boycott the brand, and there were countless other pasta brands stepping forward to announce their support for gay people and gay rights. Bertolli was one such brand with came out as pro-gay. They created an advert featuring gay pasta, and the slogan ‘love and pasta for all’, designed to entice in the people that Barilla had angered. Other pasta brands also joined in this industry political civil war, but the question is, why was it even necessary in the first place?