Alex Wou’s blog post touches on the issue of ethics and marketing. After Mr. Barilla publicly stated that he was opposed to the idea of having a gay family in the company’s advertisements, it is understandable why it had caused quite an uproar. On the surface, it appears that Mr. Barilla is opposed to gay families, but I believe this issue should be further analyzed. Barilla is an Italian company whose headquarters are based in Parma, Italy with Mr. Barilla himself being Italian. Italian culture is, of course very strong, and it is reinforced in the culture that the women in Italian families have the key role in the cooking. These views would naturally have an affect on the way the company markets its products, as the values of the society tend to have similarities with the values of the companies. Also, I personally have not seen an advertisement on any form of media that involves a gay, or lesbian family. All this being said, however, I think that it was still inappropriate for Mr. Barilla to respond the way that he did. Companies should always be looking for ways to adjust to the current needs of society, even if it may involve dropping past values.

Picture: http://www.trbimg.com/img-5244aa9e/turbine/la-ol-boycott-barilla-anti-gay-20130926-001/454