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Boycotting Brands...Like Barilla, For Instance

weinoo

By weinoo
in Food Traditions & Culture

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weinoo

weinoo

Posted
Posted

So what do you do when a company and/or one of it's big mukety-mucks, makes a statement that is offensive? There was that Chic-Fil-A thing a while ago.

Now it's Barilla, whose company president made an anti-gay remark. Then apologized, sort of.

Me - I'm not buying Barilla any more.

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Mitch Weinstein aka "weinoo"

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Norm Matthews

Norm Matthews

Posted
Posted (edited)

While I applaud Cheerios for using a mixed race couple and biracial child in one of their commercials and refusing to back down in the face of criticism, I somehow feel it is a knee jerk reaction to boycott Barilla for responding to the question by saying that using a gay couple in his advertizing was contrary to his company's traditional way of presenting itself. I don't think it rises to the level of the Chic-Fil-A exec who made a series of prejudicial and ignorant anti gay marriage remarks and remained unapologetic afterwards.

My feeling are not set in stone. I am open to consider other opinions.

Edited by Norm Matthews (log)

http://normmatthews.blogspot.com/

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Shel_B

Shel_B

Posted
Posted

There are a number of companies whose products I don't buy or whose stores I avoid because I don't like something about them. I've not purchased any Nestle products in years, likewise, I don't shop at Walmart, buy Gillette or Clorox products, anything from any of the Koch brothers' companies, etc. I've only purchased Barilla once, and that was recently as a result of the recent pasta thread here. I'll certainly not buy another Barilla product. I agree with you in that we should express our views and preferences with our wallets.

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 ... Shel


 

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Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
Posted

I need to have respect for someone to be offended by their remarks, that doesn't happen often.

I can't respect someone that I do not know.

I may not like the remark, but I'm not offended.

Having said that, I don't buy many commercial products anyway.

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~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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Martin Fisher

Martin Fisher

Posted
Posted (edited)

Also, it's one person's view and remarks.

Let's look beyond the surface.

Why punish Barilla's 14,000 employees who are totally innocent in this?

If you do really care what the CEO thinks, write him a letter and tell him why he's wrong!

Edited by DiggingDogFarm (log)
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~Martin :)

I just don't want to look back and think "I could have eaten that."

Unsupervised, rebellious, radical agrarian experimenter, minimalist penny-pincher, and adventurous cook. Crotchety, cantankerous, terse curmudgeon, non-conformist, and contrarian who questions everything!

The best thing about a vegetable garden is all the meat you can hunt and trap out of it!

 

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Ashen

Ashen

Posted
Posted (edited)

the reports seem a bit inflammatory in regards to what he actually said.

In a largely Catholic country saying during a radio interview , "the concept of the sacred family remains one of the basic values of the company." in regards how you will advertise in the future, seems a safe business move even if it is shortsighted.

The way it is being spun in the reporting I have seen, makes it seem like he went out of his way to say he doesn't want gay people to eat his pasta. .

Edited by Ashen (log)
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"Why is the rum always gone?"

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huiray

huiray

Posted
Posted

Regarding "...a largely Catholic country...":

France (76%), Spain (94%), Portugal (88%), Brazil (65%; and numerically the country w/ the largest number), Argentina (92%), Uruguay (77%) are all also "largely Catholic" countries. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_by_country

In all of these countries same-sex marriages are legal and the definition of a family therefore officially encompasses these same-sex families. ;-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Status_of_same-sex_marriage

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liuzhou

liuzhou

Posted
Posted (edited)

Has any boycott of a major food company ever worked? I can only think of one example* of a major company caving in because of a boycott, but it wasn't food related.

Nestlé don't seem particularly worried despite even the Vatican weighing in against them. I avoid their products but I don't realistically think it makes much difference. My supermarket is still full of them. And their share price is unaffected.

I don't buy Apple. They don't seem to be panicking.

There are a couple of countries which I won't knowingly buy from, but again it doesn't seem to make much difference.

But it makes me feel better in myself.

* Barclays Bank UK Boycott.

Edited by liuzhou (log)
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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
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Ashen

Ashen

Posted
Posted

Regarding "...a largely Catholic country...":

France (76%), Spain (94%), Portugal (88%), Brazil (65%; and numerically the country w/ the largest number), Argentina (92%), Uruguay (77%) are all also "largely Catholic" countries. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_by_country

In all of these countries same-sex marriages are legal and the definition of a family therefore officially encompasses these same-sex families. ;-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Status_of_same-sex_marriage

Your point being?

I am merely pointing out that many of these types of news stories are spun to create greater controversy.. It is the same thing in reverse to the whole christian boycott of starbucks because the CEO is supposedly anti-traditional marriage and doesn't want their business. Very few people actually took the time to find out exactly what is said, instead they relied on the inflammatory spin to base their outrage on.

Sometimes I think without facebook and twitter no one would know what to be outraged about next. .

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"Why is the rum always gone?"

Captain Jack Sparrow

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Tri2Cook

Tri2Cook

Posted
Posted

I don't get offended on behalf of others. That's not saying I don't care if people are offended or that I think the thing that offends them is okay, I just don't get involved in protests, boycotts, etc. that I don't have a personal stake in. That may not be a good thing... then again, maybe it's not so terrible. A lot of problems have been stirred up by people being offended on behalf of others when those they were offended for weren't even particularly offended.

It's kinda like wrestling a gorilla... you don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired.

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gfweb

gfweb

Posted
Posted

I don't get offended on behalf of others. That's not saying I don't care if people are offended or that I think the thing that offends them is okay, I just don't get involved in protests, boycotts, etc. that I don't have a personal stake in. That may not be a good thing... then again, maybe it's not so terrible. A lot of problems have been stirred up by people being offended on behalf of others when those they were offended for weren't even particularly offended.

Yeah. Way too much anger spawned by the interwebs. People love a little "righteous" outrage. Nothing like being allowed to hate and feel good about yourself at the same time.

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huiray

huiray

Posted
Posted (edited)

Regarding "...a largely Catholic country...":

France (76%), Spain (94%), Portugal (88%), Brazil (65%; and numerically the country w/ the largest number), Argentina (92%), Uruguay (77%) are all also "largely Catholic" countries. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_by_country

In all of these countries same-sex marriages are legal and the definition of a family therefore officially encompasses these same-sex families. ;-)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Status_of_same-sex_marriage

Your point being?

I am merely pointing out that many of these types of news stories are spun to create greater controversy.. It is the same thing in reverse to the whole christian boycott of starbucks because the CEO is supposedly anti-traditional marriage and doesn't want their business. Very few people actually took the time to find out exactly what is said, instead they relied on the inflammatory spin to base their outrage on.

Sometimes I think without facebook and twitter no one would know what to be outraged about next. .

That you appeared to tie his voicing those sentiments to his being in a Catholic country, implying that in a Catholic country (i.e. any Catholic country) his sentiments of a family as he defined it was normal and definitive, and that same-sex married couples would not be accepted. If so, that would be incorrect.

As for what he actually said, it *has* been reported on and carefully described, word for word, in far more places than Twitter and Facebook. Including on Snopes.com. All you have to do is look around.

Edited by huiray (log)
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gfweb

gfweb

Posted
Posted

Rather a different issue. Ignoring injustice is not the same as getting vituperative over a violation of some political correctness. I offer the Paula Deen* brouhaha as evidence of the sort of interweb outrage that so many love. Nobody was hurt by her idiotic statements (made years ago), yet one would think she was out killing babies or something.

*don't anybody dare suggest that I condone her position

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gfweb

gfweb

Posted
Posted (edited)

Ok, I'm feeling ignorant here. What did Nestle do?

I believe that they sold infant formula to Africans.

More than just to Africans.

http://www.notefromlapland.com/2010/08/the-nestle-boycott-whats-that-all-about-then.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nestlé_boycott

Bastards!*

* I apologize to any illigitimate children that I may have offended.

Edited by gfweb (log)
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dcarch

dcarch

Posted
Posted

Also, it's one person's view and remarks.

Let's look beyond the surface.

Why punish Barilla's 14,000 employees who are totally innocent in this?

If you do really care what the CEO thinks, write him a letter and tell him why he's wrong!

Agree.

You will be boycotting 95% of all companies, including Disney and the entire Disney empire.

dcarch

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Arey

Arey

Posted
Posted (edited)

I had no idea that there are some things I buy that were produced by Nestles until I followed one of the links provided above. My initial reaction to the posts about the Nestles boycott was that I don't buy cocoa so what's it matter. One of their companies is Gerbers, and Gerbers beef and gravy is one of my cat's foods likes. (Bryn, my avatar) I may not buy Hagen-Dazs in the future but will continue to buy Gerbers since few animals are as amoral, and indifferent as a cat. So even if he did understand me when I told him why he couldn't have any more Gerbers his reply would be "Shut up and give me my Gerbers". A lot of People can be a lot like that when it comes to a favorite food product It's easy to take a self-righteous stance about a boycott, if it's something you would never buy in the first case.

I decided I should check out Barilla to see if I buy any of their products, but unfortunately, their website wasn't available right now.

Edited by Arey (log)
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"A fool", he said, "would have swallowed it". Samuel Johnson

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