#156 Barilla, not for everyone?
In 2013, one of the most successful multinational Italian companies, privately held past maker Barilla, almost stumbled over the comments of its chairman, Guido Barilla. When interviewed on Radio24, a national radio station, he expanded on how Barilla is rooted in traditional family values and why they would therefore never show a homosexual couple in their promotion. To make things worse, he added that gay customers who wouldn’t agree with Barilla’s position, could just buy their pasta from another brand. And so they did. Social media exploded with outrage, celebrities publicly shamed the pasta maker, and sales started to drop. While the immediate financial impact of consumer boycotts for the company that sells $2.4 bn worth of pasta annually was not too dramatic – fast-moving consumer goods like pasta move more by price than anything else – the long-term damage to the brand appeared to be potentially devastating. Especially in foreign markets of the West that care about diversity and about gay rights, but also in smaller pockets of the global LGBT community worldwide. Barilla has learned from this experience lemon and made lemonade from it. It launched a diversity and inclusiveness initiative. As Bloomberg Business Week reports, Barilla’s CEO, Claudio Colzani, has worked hard over the last few years to embrace the fact that love comes in different forms – as different as the dozens of types of pasta in Barilla’s factories…
April 4, 2020 @ 5:29 pm
Long story short: it does not matter if you want to enter a new market, if you want to gain new market shares or if you want to keep your current market position, when acting in a specific market, companies have to adapt to its particular culture and values.
Barilla’s mistake reminds me of a series of similar advertising campaigns and of the related – all equal – outcomes, all involving big brands like Dolce&Gabbana (disastrous advertising campaign in China) or H&M (the racist “coolest monkey in the jungle” hoodie on an US advertising poster).
Still, companies often find themselves in the unpleasant situation of having to apologize for their marketing campaign, due to the same – unfortunately very common – mistake: thinking that the market and the audience will adapt to their irony, habits or way of thinking, thus, in one word, adapt to their culture.
As a matter of fact, markets and customers rarely – or rather never – adapt. On the contrary, companies have to spot the specific cultural trends and sensitivities of their target audience and adapt to them, be it for an advertising campaign or for the next company expansion in a new region or country.
April 20, 2020 @ 4:39 am
Ouch! Another gaffe made by a high profile company in the age with the biggest visibility for diverse demographics and inclusion.
Just as we discussed in chapter 5 when selecting a target market, companies have to be mindful of demographic shifts amidst other factors. Population shifts impact economies significantly and economies with favorable demographics will enjoy continued growth. Naturally since firms are looking to enter these healthy economies they also have to adapt to the consumer market. In 2010, US held the highest GDP ranking in the world according to World Bank. US is also one of the western countries with the most progressive consumer populations. The state of California alone ranks as the fifth largest world economy and is an epicenter for the LGBTQ+ community. It’s a no brainer that if a firm wants to enter the US market they should keep in mind the aforementioned demographic information and adapt its advertising initiatives to reflect the foreign market.
April 20, 2020 @ 11:08 am
Barilla is not the first company where the owner makes inappropriate comments about ethnicity, sexual or religious views. Normally, companies tend to make excuses, promises to be more open-minded, diverse or whatever may feel appropriate. This is often the reaction to a certain decline in sales, social shitstorm or just bad publicity. However, sustainable change within a company through changing the culture, values or leadership behavior, is often lagging behind.
In this case, Barilla seemed to derive the right actions out of this issue. In 2014, news reported that the company has scored a top rating on the Human Rights Campaign’s list of employers who are LGBT-friendly and is actively engaging with the LGBT community. Such a positive reaction is not often seen in a time where many politicians, companies and the like demonstrated that you can “dive through such crisis”, simply by waiting and let the time work for you. Sustainable change out of this position is not often seen and should be valued as well.
April 26, 2020 @ 11:45 pm
This blog entry is making me wonder in which world some executive levels are living? Making such a statement in this time can only have a dramatic effect on the business. Most of the time it is not important what you as a person think, instead you have to go with the flow and respect the changes that are happening in the world.
This is a perfect example to see how vulnerable markets are in reality. With only one bad comment you can drop sales drastically, damage the image and lose customers. Furthermore, customers will start a social media “war” which spreads 10 thousand times faster than “good news”.
I think in some cases executive levels are not in agreement with employees. I would assume that most of the barilla employees have been shocked or ashamed by their chairman’s live comment. Having this difference between executives and employees can be very dangerous but once again, company size matters. The bigger the companies the more far away executives get from “reality”.
June 28, 2020 @ 7:24 pm
„Failing forward! “Luckily Barilla was, at the end, able to make a turnaround. I have just learned that the company created a diversity and inclusion board. It should serve as a training program for employees and contribute to LGBT causes. So, one can say, that Barilla went from the worst to the first when it comes to gay rights.
The mistake first let to a boycott. But interestingly, after having taken note of the failure, Barilla took his chance to launch a unique advertising campaign– embracing diversity and respect! Teaming up with the fashion brand GCDS and the Italian diva Sophia Loren, Barilla was able to attract customers from all ages… and genders! On the top of that the noodle package didn’t came in the standard-blue but in pink.
Having offended gay people was a huge mistake – but fortunately Barilla learned his lesson and turned the mistake into a marketing scoop!
July 19, 2020 @ 11:48 pm
So just think about the impact of those comments if they had been made just last week? With everything going on in the world, people spending more time on social media, and topics of diversity being globally shared and scrutinized by everyone with a cell phone, this could have spelled financial ruin for Barilla. I think that companies are trying to do the right thing each and every time that they expand into another foreign market. With the changes going on worldwide, companies have to adapt to be successful in target markets. I feel that the current CEO of Barilla has done a great thing by forming a diversity and inclusion initiative, this shows more than a company just trying to be successful and sell products to customers. It shows that they are taking a stand for what is right, are open to changes, and have a vested interest in their customers whoever they may be. It also shows that they are looking to the future in that foreign market and not looking to make a quick buck and bounce out.
July 31, 2020 @ 7:45 am
Mr. Barilla’s comments highlighted the inability to see beyond one’s own cultural views to adapt to a new market or to be more inclusive through a company’s target market and diverse marketing plan efforts. It is important for companies looking to enter a market or brand itself in international markets to develop and cultivate a relationship with target markets through effective marketing campaign strategies targeted to attract people to their product from all different walks of life.
In Barilla’s case, the expansion of gay rights throughout the globe in numerous countries and their buying power as well as political involvement make them a significant demographic to attract to your product. A blunder of this extent dramatically impacted the view of the company in the eyes of the target market for their product. In addition, it shows a loss of disciplined leadership and demonstrates insensitivity or lack of adaptation as well as tolerance of different views by the organization as a whole. The insensitive and inappropriate comments did allow Barilla to set up a diversity and inclusion initiative which they might not have done but for the blunder which was a real positive. It allowed them to look a little more introspectively at ways they can do more within the culture to promote themselves by building trusting relationships with all of their consumers who are a diverse group.
Having a marketing plan, embracing diversity, and a crisis communications plan for international business efforts are critical components of any successful organization was my takeaway. Hopefully, Mr. Barilla learned from this mistake.
January 16, 2021 @ 12:16 pm
It truly irritates me that a CEO publicly announces homophobic statements. What did he expect after such a message? In the age of social media, such statements spread like wildfire. Clearly, the reputation of the pasta manufacturer was gone. Culture and value have to be treated respectfully. Barilla products may have targeted the ‘classic family’ in the past. However, within nowadays fast-moving world the 4 Ps of the global marketing mix have to be adapted continuously. Brand awareness and reputation are key elements to succeed. Consequently, thorough promotional activities which may be modified in foreign markets due to different consumption patterns, cultural values and opinions, are vital. Finally, I believe that this misstep resulted in a steep learning curve for Barilla. Millions of dollars were invested to polish up the image again. Barilla was lucky enough to be able to afford it. Many other companies would not have recovered from such a severe action.
January 16, 2021 @ 1:01 pm
Ready to go (or operate) global when traditional family values collide with foreign market values? For Barilla I would answer yes, as they managed to turn things around in a key moment by realizing their failure, confessing the fault and taking counter measures.
However, in general I would say that we are all humans and therefore making mistakes belongs to the procedure of lifelong learning. In particular, diversity – a hot topic that polarizes – seems to be a battlefield, where companies can loose significant portions of their image and customer base. Various companies showed how it should not be tackled in the past few years – it is now time to learn from the mistakes. The Barilla sample clearly indicates that openness as well as management skills are among the cornerstones for operating in global markets, while at the same time there is no necessity to give up traditional family values.
I absolutely cheer that Barilla did finally go for a campaign that emphasizes the different forms of love, as for me personally the quality aspect of the product clearly stands out and the love of great pasta with a delicious sauce should connect people aside from demographic or cultural issues.
January 16, 2021 @ 1:04 pm
Ready to go (or operate) global when traditional family values collide with foreign market values? For Barilla I would answer yes, as they managed to turn things around in a key moment by realizing their failure, confessing the fault and taking countermeasures.
However, in general I would say that we are all humans and therefore making mistakes belongs to the procedure of lifelong learning. In particular, diversity – a hot topic that polarizes – seems to be a battlefield, where companies can lose significant portions of their image and customer base. Various companies showed how it should not be tackled in the past few years – it is now time to learn from the mistakes. The Barilla sample clearly indicates that openness as well as management skills are among the cornerstones for operating in global markets, while at the same time there is no necessity to give up traditional family values.
I absolutely cheer that Barilla did finally go for a campaign that emphasizes the different forms of love, as for me personally the quality aspect of the product clearly stands out and the love of great pasta with a delicious sauce should connect people aside from demographic or cultural issues.
January 23, 2021 @ 12:25 pm
The example of Barilla shows how adaptable companies can be, when they face financial losses and drop in their revenue. Unfortunately, it is not about changing their real mindset, but “how can we fast rescue our company from having a bad record”.
Barilla is an Italian pasta maker, with a brand awareness globally.
As we have learned in week 4th class, it is extremely important that the company performs on a regular basis an external environmental analysis, to understand the cultural differences, to have a gender-neutral vision and mission, to be open-minded with diversity and to have an environmental awareness.
Barilla worked on improving their weak point. Colzani spend around $ 5 million a year to turnaround their bad image. With their approach they could earn the highest possible score on the Human Rights Campaign’s corporate equality index.
In my opinion Barilla learned over the past years from their mistakes and have a huge focus on analyzing the target markets. To bring an example, I am since more than 15 years vegan. Looking a few years back Barilla didn’t have a vegan line, but they adapted here as well. It seems they are moving in a right direction.
February 6, 2021 @ 8:13 pm
In times when we talk about same-sex couples but where there are now “transgender” ads without end, it surprises me a lot, even if the article is from 2013, that such a faux pas can happen to a CEO. Naturally, every article is sifted through and prepared by legions of press spokespersons anyway not to offer any surface for attack. We live in such a fast-moving age where information has been spreading worldwide in real-time for years. The damage to the image of a “wrong” sentence can run into millions of USD because the spoken word can no longer be taken back – it is now digitized for all eternity. One learns by making mistakes and will try to go into the next interviews and press conferences with more tact and more preparation. Of course, a course correction can be initiated with the corresponding advertising campaign that precisely addresses the error correction, but this must credibly reach its target audience. I think Barilla has managed this exceptionally well.