The winner of September’s  “Shoot Yourself in the Head” award goes to Italy’s legendary pasta maker, Barilla, whose primary product was boycotted after its chairman made anti-gay remarks.

Barilla Group head Guido Barilla sparked public outrage when he volunteered on a radio program that he would never use a gay family to advertise his pasta.

Said Chairman Guido, “I would not do it but out of a lack of respect for homosexuals, who have the right to do what they want without bothering others…I don’t see things like they do and I think the family that we speak to is a classic family.”

Checque per favore!

Now to be clear, Mr. Barilla’s remarks weren’t mean-spirited, but they were enough – to foment publicity, trigger competitive response, and enflame critics to pummel his pasta.

  • Barilla’s remarks were immediately went viral and broadcast around the world.
  • The chairman of the gay rights group, Equality Italia, accused Barilla of being deliberately provocative and launched a boycott of all Barilla products.
  • Pasta competitor Bertolli Germany began posting pro-gay imagery on its social media feeds, adopting the slogan, “Love and pasta for all.”

By week’s end, bloggers from Sicily to San Bernadino were demanding that local stores stop stocking Barilla pasta.

As Tony Soprano might put it, “Marone!”

Barilla Pasta’s self-inflicted public relations wound was just the latest where a company official enmeshed himself into a completely-unrelated imbroglio, thus jeopardizing the very corporate entity he’s supposed to represent.

Last year, it was Chick-fil-A’s President Dan Cathy who simply had to reveal to a radio interviewer how opposed he was to gay marriage.

Said President Cathy, "I think we are inviting God's judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at Him and say, 'We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage.”

That was all activists needed to embroil Chick-fil-A in a nationwide scandal, subjecting innocent employees (some of whom, presumably, were gay) to undeserved criticism and turmoil.

Neither Barilla nor Chick-fil-A, of course, had any business getting involved in the gay rights issue, regardless of the personal view of corporate officials. What possible link is there between gay rights and pasta or chicken? Answer: none.

By contrast, when Starbucks’ CEO Howard Schultz appealed to gun owners to keep their weapons out of his coffee shops, he did so because of the brewing issue of proliferating guns in his otherwise peaceful stores.

In other words, Schultz – as opposed to Barilla and Cathy -- had a reason to speak out on gun control, because it was directly tied to his business. 

And that must be the rule for any corporate owner/CEO, i.e. If the issue has no direct correlation to your business, refrain from commenting on it. Of course, you have every right in a democracy to express your view. But if any response you give will negatively impact the business, why say it?

In the case of both Barilla and Chick-fil-A, the controversy created by their executives hurt their companies, their profits and the livelihood of the people who work for them.

The disastrous experience of both in invading issue areas in which they had no business entering should serve as an object lesson to any organization: If your CEO has a burning desire to involve himself in controversy, the best Italian advice you can give him is, “Stai zitto!”

Literal translation: “Just shut up!”