A Campbell’s Soup Company executive has been put on temporary leave after he allegedly referred to the firm’s offerings as “shit for fucking poor people” – a remark purportedly caught on an audio recording and attributed to him in a former employee’s wrongful termination lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed last Thursday in Wayne county circuit court in Michigan by Robert Garza, who had joined Campbell’s New Jersey headquarters remotely in September 2024 as a security analyst. Garza alleges he was fired in January after he raised concerns about comments made by Martin Bally, Campbell’s vice-president of information technology – including referring to one of the company’s ingredients as “bioengineered meat” while going off on a racist tirade.
The lawsuit recounts that Garza met with Bally in November 2024 to discuss his salary. However, Garza alleges, the meeting turned into an hour-long rant by Bally during which he disparaged the quality of Campbell’s products and customers, made racist comments about Indian employees and admitted to coming to work while high on marijuana edibles.
In audio recordings captured by Garza after sensing that “something wasn’t right,” which were later reviewed by the Michigan news outlet WDIV, a voice can be heard saying: “We have shit for fucking poor people.”
The voice adds: “Who buys our shit? I don’t buy Campbell’s products barely any more. It’s not healthy now that I know what the fuck’s in it … bioengineered meat.
“I don’t wanna eat a piece of chicken that came from a 3D printer”
Allegedly referring to Campbell’s employees of Indian heritage, the voice continued: “Fucking Indians don’t know a fucking thing … Like they couldn’t think for their fucking selves.”
Garza says he felt “pure disgust” after the meeting but kept the recording private until January, when he reported Bally’s behaviour to supervisor JP Aupperle, according to WDIV. Garza said he was dismissed from Campbell’s 20 days later and without any prior disciplinary action.
According to Garza’s lawyer Zachary Runyan, who spoke to WDIV, the plaintiff was “sticking up for other people” before his firing.
“He went to his boss and said: ‘Martin is saying this about Indian co-workers 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,’” Runyan remarked to the news station. “And the response to Robert sticking up for other people is he gets fired, which is ridiculous.”
Garza’s lawsuit alleges retaliatory dismissal and claims the company maintained a racially hostile work environment. He also says neither Campbell’s nor its human resources department followed up on his report about Bally, leaving him unemployed for 10 months.
Campbell’s said in a statement that it was investigating the allegations and had placed Bally on leave for the time being, adding: “If accurate, the comments in the recording are unacceptable. They do not reflect our values and the culture of our company.”
Meanwhile, in a separate statement to Newsweek, another Campbell’s spokesperson denied claims that the meat being used was bioengineered.
“We use 100% real chicken in our soups,” the company spokesperson reportedly said. “The chicken meat comes from long-trusted, [US Department of Agriculture] approved … suppliers and meets our high quality standards. All of our soups are made with No Antibiotics Ever chicken meat.
“Any claims to the contrary are completely false.”
Bally has not publicly commented on the lawsuit, which names him, Aupperle, and the company itself as defendants.
Garza’s lawsuit portrays Campbell’s – whose distinctive red and white cans feature in one of Andy Warhol’s most famous 1960s pop artworks – as joining other companies whose employees have verbally dumped on their own products.
In 2017, Chinese telecommunication giant Huawei’s deputy chair Eric Xu responded to a question about a new smartwatch by casting doubt on whether the product was even necessary.
“I am always confused as to what smartwatches are for when we have smartphones,” Xu was quoted as saying.
Infamously, in 1991, the former chair of the Ratner Group jewelry company, Gerald Ratner, publicly called its products “total crap”.
“People say: ‘How can you sell this for such a low price?’” Ratner said at the time. “I say, ‘Because it’s total crap.’”
He apologized and explained that he was joking, but business for the Ratner Group was substantially wounded, and 330 Ratner Group shops across the UK and US subsequently closed.
