A leaked audio recording has landed Campbell Soup in hot water, pun intended. The tinned soup giant is reeling from the audio, where former Vice President Martin Bally can allegedly be heard deriding the product. Bally goes as far to as declare the soup is for "f----g poor people," and that he refuses to consume the soup himself.
"We have s--t for f-----g poor people," Bally can be heard saying. "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---s in it...bioengineered meat, I don't wanna eat a piece of chicken that came from a 3D printer."
The rant took place during a meeting between Bally and Robert Garza, who walked into the room assuming that he was preparing for a standard salary discussion. However, Bally let rip about the company in a rant that ultimately cost him his job.
Bally didn't stop at the perceived lack of quality that Campbell's Soup offers. Instead, he steered the discussion down a much darker route. He reportedly took aim at the company's Indian employee base with a string of racist remarks.
On the recording, the former Vice President can be heard labelling the Indiana employees as "idiots." He then continued by stating that they "couldn't think for their f-----g selves."
"(Bally) has no filter," Garza told Yahoo. "He thinks he's a C-level executive at a Fortune 500 company and he can do whatever he wants because he's an executive."
Garza initially kept the recording to himself; however, after much reflection, he decided that he couldn't keep silent.
Robert Garza's Decision To Speak Out on Martin Bally May Have Cost Him His Job With Campbell's Soup
Garza ultimately handed the recording to a direct supervisor in January 2025. Less than a month later, he was fired from the company.
"He was really sticking up for other people," Zachary Runyan, Garza's attorney, told Yahoo. "He went to his boss and said, 'Martin is saying this about Indian coworkers we have, he's saying this about people who buy our food — who keep our company open, and I don't think that should be allowed'...The response to Robert sticking up for other people is he gets fired, which is ridiculous."
It's currently unclear whether Bally is still with the company. However, it's clear that he doesn't believe in the product or the use of the opinion-splitting bioengineered meat.
Sooner or later, Campbell's will likely need to issue a statement, especially as this story continues to attract online attention.
