Campbell’s vulgar leak required more than defending its soup

“S--T for f--king poor people” is not the tagline you want people associating with your brand.

- By Beth Kowitt

Campbell's soup cans and a person.

But that’s the position Campbell’s Co. finds itself in after executive Martin Bally was recorded allegedly badmouthing the company’s products, along with calling its Indian employees “idiots” and claiming its soup contains “bioengineered meat.”

The recording was leaked by Robert Garza, a former Campbell’s cybersecurity analyst, in connection with a lawsuit he filed against the company and Bally, claiming he was fired not long after reporting the comments to his boss and saying he planned to tell HR:

“We have s--t for f--king poor people. Who buys our s--t? I don’t buy Campbell’s products barely anymore. It’s not healthy now that I know what the f--k’s in it. Bioengineered meat — I don’t wanna eat a piece of chicken that came from a 3-D printer.”

Campbell’s did the right thing once the recording came to light. The company canned Bally after determining that the voice on the recording was indeed his, and it put out a statement saying the comments were “vulgar, offensive and false” and do not “reflect our values and the culture of our company.”

But examining the ways Campbell’s has continued to respond to the fiasco offers some clues as to how the company might have ended up in this position.