As a general rule, insulting your customer base and your production methods is generally not the brightest idea, regardless of what company you’re in.
When you’re the vice president and chief of IT security at Campbell Soup Company? It crosses that thin line between bold strategy and just plain stupidity.
This less-than-flattering information came out when Robert Garza, a cybersecurity analyst, filed a damning lawsuit against the soup-making titan.
Garza was speaking to Campbell’s executive Martin Bally, when “he hit record on instinct,” according to the New York Post.
And what he recorded apparently left Garza with “pure disgust.”
“We have s*** for f***ing poor people,” Bally allegedly said. “Who buys our s***? I don’t buy Campbell’s products barely anymore.”
Bally was not finished — not by a long shot.
“It’s not healthy now that I know what the f***’s in it,” he said.
Bally also slammed the ingredients of his company’s product. “Bioengineered meat — I don’t wanna eat a piece of chicken that came from a 3-D printer.”
The Campbell’s executive also apparently spoke disparagingly of his Indian co-workers, saying they “don’t know a f***ing thing” and that they “couldn’t think for their f***ing selves.”
According to CBS News, Bally has been put on leave while the company investigates these alleged remarks.
“If the comments were in fact made, they are unacceptable,” the company said. “The comments heard on the recording about our food are not only inaccurate — they are patently absurd.”
Now, Campbell’s may be trying to separate itself from this lawsuit and/or Bally’s acrimonious attitude, but the sad part about this sad story is that there really are no good guys.
First, Bally comes off as an elitist snob sneering down at “f***ing poor people” who consume Campbell’s out of fiscal necessity over flavor.
Yes, if everyone could make good soup, they would probably do so over purchasing a can of Campbell’s. But that’s not really a reality for many.
(And there’s really no need to even broach his apparent disdain for Indians.)
But as bad as Bally comes off, this shouldn’t exactly absolve Campbell’s, even if their angry executive’s complaints are bunk.
Bioengineered meat is still a while off from being mass produced, so this quibble isn’t about that.
But one cannot deny that American food brands becoming synonymous with ultra-processed foods is an objectively bad thing. The amount of sodium in Campbell’s soups would make a salt lick blush.
In their tiny 10.75 oz can of chicken noodle soup, there’s a whopping 890 mg of sodium. Salt, the oldest preservative known to man, is often pumped into these iconic brands so they can extend shelf life, consequences to consumer health be damned.
Oh, and those 890 mg of sodium? That’s for just one serving. There are 2.5 servings in that can, which means one of those little cans contains an unfathomable 2,225 mg of sodium.
That is not okay — with or without the inclusion of bioengineered meat.
One last note about Campbell’s: They fired Garza when he reached out to his supervisor to blow the whistle.
And that — more so than mystery meat or levels of salt that would make the Dead Sea jealous — is perhaps the biggest issue with Campbell’s: They’re clearly a corporate conglomerate that cares far more about its bottom line than the well-being of its employees and customers.
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