THEGAYUK

Tag: Business

All the latest breaking news on business. Browse THEGAYUK’s complete collection of news, articles and commentary on business.

  • The real cost of sponsoring the Sochi Winter Olympics

    THEGAYUK asked readers about their thoughts on Olympic Corporate Sponsors – the results quite damaging for any brands who don’t speak out.

    With one of biggest mass organised world-wide protests being organised for today (5th Feb 2014) THEGAYUK unveils it’s readers’ survey about what gay people think about the brands that are sponsoring the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

    We asked a representative sample (162) of THEGAYUK readers their thoughts on the commercial supporters of this year’s Winter Olympics.

    A whopping 76% of the people who were questioned knew at least one of the Olympic Sponsors.

    When asked whether they’d boycott the brands involved 60% said that they would consider banning a brand from their house.

    Nearly half of those questioned had already boycotted a brand with a Russian connection (44%)

    75% agreed that sponsorship of the Sochi Winter Olympic games damaged a company’s LGBT friendly credentials.

    AT&T were the first brand that actively condemn the current situation that LGBT people face in Russia – and although it’s not an official overall Olympics’ sponsor, it does sponsor the US Olympic team.

  • Coca-Cola slammed for gay couple removal in irish broadcast

    Coco-Cola the world’s biggest drinks manufacturer has been slammed for removing the gay couple segment from the Irish version of the advert.

    A Spokesperson for the drinks company said:

    “The wedding images used in the ad for the UK and in other parts of Europe show two men getting married.

    “The reason this was changed for Ireland is while civil partnership for gay people is legal, gay marriage currently is not. We wanted each ad to be relevant and valid for its own market.”

    Coca-Cola trended in Ireland as many people took to the social network to complain about the edit.

    Adam Long an LGBT Rights activist from Dublin said:

    “@CocaCola Ireland excuse for deleting gay couple from ad just not credible. Cut scene could just as easily have been a Civil Partnership

    “Accurate ‘consumer research’ on issue would also tell @CocaCola that Ireland has one of the highest levels of support for marriage equality.

    “@CocaCola Ireland made a bad call. They need to apologise to the Irish LGBT community and put the deleted scene back into ad #cocacolaadvert”

    TheGayUK has asked the spokespeople for Coca-Cola about the scenes shot for the advert – as it is impossible to tell whether the scene is a marriage or civil partnership. We’ve yet to receive a response.

    The first same-sex marriages are to be legal in the UK in March 2014.

    The new ad campaign by Coca-Cola, which is called ‘Reasons To Believe’, shows a male same-sex couple holding hands in wedding suits in the UK, but the Irish version of the same advert omits the scene for a straight interracial couple walking down the aisle.

    The advert is apparently tweaked to fit where the advert is shown – with the gay couple being shown everywhere in Europe where gay marriage and civil partnerships are currently legal.

    Coca-Cola has been under fire recently for not speaking about LGBT issues in the run-up to the Sochi Winter Olympics in Russia. On the 22nd of December a PR event hosted by the company was ambushed by Peter Tatchell and other gay rights protesters.

    “Coke is sponsoring the Sochi Winter Olympics, without even a murmur of unease at the anti-gay and repressive policies of the Putin government. It is shameful acquiescence with oppression,” said Peter Tatchell, Director of the human rights advocacy organisation, the Peter Tatchell Foundation, who coordinated the protest.

    “By sponsoring the Sochi Winter Olympics, Coca Cola is rewarding the Putin regime; giving it legitimacy and credibility. Coke’s sponsorship comes at a time when homophobia and other human rights abuses are widespread in Russia.

    “It is shocking that Coca Cola has not been willing to express its disquiet at the anti-gay legislation and violence in Russia. Equally remiss is Coke’s unwillingness to speak out against other Russian human rights abuses.”

    In a survey by TheGayUK, 96.3% of respondents believed that commercially supporting Russia’s winter Olympics threatened a company’s LGBT friendly image.

  • MSNBC suspends Alec Baldwin’s late night show

    MSNBC suspends Alec Baldwin’s late night show

    MSNBC has yanked Alec Baldwin’s show off the air for 2 weeks following an incident earlier in the week

    Yesterday GLAAD accused 30 Rock Actor, Alec Baldwin of ‘Degrading Gay People’ after video footage emerged which showed him using an F word. The actor insists the word he used was ‘Fathead’.

    In the video the 30 Rock actor is heard calling a photographer a ‘cksucker’ although a media storm has been created after it was suggested that Baldwin actually called a photographer a ‘Cksucking F*g head’. Baldwin is insisting that he said ‘Fathead’ and has threatened to sue TMZ for suggesting that he used a homophobic word.

    Baldwin said that acoustic analysis of the recording proves the word said was ‘fathead.’

    However MSNBC have pulled his new show Up Late With Alec Baldwin for 2 weeks, in a post on MSNBC.com the network shared a personal statement from Baldwin, in which he addresses the comments he made in the week.

    ‘I did not intend to hurt or offend anyone with my choice of words, but clearly I have – and for that I am deeply sorry. Words are important. I understand that, and will choose mine with great care going forward. What I said and did this week, as I was trying to protect my family, was offensive and unacceptable. Behavior like this undermines hard-fought rights that I vigorously support. I understand “Up Late” will be taken off the schedule for tonight and next week.

    I want to apologize to my loyal fans and to my colleagues at msnbc – both for my actions and for distracting from their good work. Again, please accept my apology.’

    MSNBC has not given any reason to why it has suspended the show – nor has responded to requests for comment.

  • World’s largest pasta firm, Barilla, in hot water “won’t include gays in our ads”

    World’s largest pasta firm, Barilla, in hot water “won’t include gays in our ads”

    Barilla, one of the world’s largest pasta makers is facing a boycott today after its Chairman, Guido Barilla, said it would never use a gay couple in any of its adverts.

    Barilla, the world's biggest pasta manufacturer
    ©-jovannig-Depositphotos

    The company which was founded in 1827 and reportedly made €3.9b in revenues in 2010 has come under fire today after its chairman Guido Barilla, gave an interview to La Zanzara Radio24.

    He was answering a question regarding the lack of gay families in the company’s advertising. He suggested that gay couples would never been used saying,

    ‘ Our family is a traditional family,’ he added that he,

    ‘wouldn’t do an ad with a homosexual family not because I disrespect gays – they have their right to do whatever they want without disturbing others – but because I don’t think like them and I think that the family we try to address is anyway a classic family’.

    Barilla then went on to suggest that if gay people didn’t like the company’s value, they could ‘eat another brand’.

    The BBC are reporting that the gay rights group Equality Italia have called Barilla’s comments ‘offensive provocation’ adding,

    ‘We accept the invitation from the Barilla owner to not eat his pasta’.

    To read the full translation click here

    Aurelio Mancuso of Equality Italia urged for a boycott of the company’s pasta, sauces and other snacks.

    On Thursday the company’s press department released a statement called: ‘Guido Barilla’s Clarification on gays’.

    The statement reads,

    ‘With reference to remarks made yesterday to an Italian radio program, I apologize if my words have generated controversy or misunderstanding, or if they hurt someone’s sensitivity’.

    ‘Boycott Barilla’ became a trending topic around the world yesterday as thousands of users took to Twitter to complain about Barilla’s comments.

    One Twitter user wrote @RonGunzburger wrote,

    ‘Count me in for the #boycottbarilla! Lots of pasta brands out there. I don’t need to buy from an anti-gay bigot.’

    None of the UK’s big four supermarket’s stock Barilla’s pasta.