Campbell's exec on leave after allegedly mocking 'poor people' who eat its soup
The executive also allegedly claimed the chicken in Campbell's soup is fake
Tensions are perhaps already high in an era of sky-high grocery prices, amid a lack of affordable meal options and as consumers struggle with annual holiday spending stress.
So, some people are pretty fired up over a new lawsuit that alleges an executive at Campbell's mocked its own canned soup and the people who eat it, calling it food for "poor people."
"Just in time for Thanksgiving, I'm not buying any of your products and I'm telling everyone I know not to either," one user commented on a Campbell's Instagram post Monday.
"Time to boycott, maybe the rich folks will start buying it," commented another.
The lawsuit filed by a former security analyst at Campbell's alleges he was fired for reporting inappropriate conduct by company vice-president and chief information security officer, Martin Bally.
In the court documents filed in Michigan’s Wayne County Circuit Court on Nov. 20, plaintiff Robert Garza claims he met with Bally in November last year to discuss his salary.
During the meeting, "Bally made several racist comments that shocked Plaintiff," the documents say. For example, Garza claims that Bally insulted Indigenous coworkers, making several racist slurs, and claims Bally disclosed he often comes to work high on edibles.
Bally also allegedly "said that Campbell's is 'highly processed food' for 'poor people,'" the documents add.
An Instagram post from Campbell's posted on Nov. 20, celebrating the movie Wicked: For Good. In the comments, people react to the allegations of a former employee. (Instagram/@campbells)
Garza claims he secretly recorded the meeting and shared the video with several media outlets. In the video, the person speaking, who Garza alleges is Bally, calls the company's products "s--t for f---ing poor people."
The person also said Campbell's uses "bioengineered meat" and "chicken that came from a 3D printer."
CBC has not independently confirmed the video. Bally has not yet commented publicly on the allegations in the lawsuit, and CBC's attempts to contact him were unsuccessful.
Bally has been placed on temporary leave while Campbell's conducts its own investigation, a spokesperson for the company told CBC News in an email statement Tuesday that was also posted online.
"If the comments were in fact made, they are unacceptable. They do not reflect our values and the culture of our company," the statement says.
"We are proud of the food we make, the people who make it and the high-quality ingredients we use. We know that millions of people use Campbell’s products, and we’re honoured by the trust they put in us."
'Inaccurate and absurd'
The lawsuit comes to light as many people across the U.S. and Canada are struggling to eat amid rising prices. In Canada, for instance, food costs have been soaring for more than a year, with grocery inflation generally trending upward since April 2024.
Food remains the dominant household financial concern for Canadians, notes the latest edition of the Canadian Food Sentiment Index, released by Dalhousie University's Agri-Food Analytics Lab.
On social media, many customers expressed disgust at the allegations in the court documents. Some said they planned to throw out any cans of soup in their pantries and urged others not to buy from the company again.
But Campbell's refutes the claims about its ingredients, noting in its statement to CBC News that "the person alleged to be speaking on the recording works in IT and has nothing to do with how we make our food."
"The comments made about our food are completely inaccurate and absurd," the company added.
In a statement posted to the company's website Tuesday, Campbell's reiterated that it does not use 3D-printed chicken, lab-grown chicken or any form of artificial or bioengineered meat in its soups.
"Campbell’s soups are made with real chicken. Period."
'Abruptly fired'
Garza reported the meeting with Bally to his supervisor back in 2024, according to the court documents, and claimed that around Jan. 10, 2025, he told his supervisor he wanted to inform human resources. He alleges his supervisor "did not encourage" him to report the comments.
Garza was "abruptly terminated" on Jan. 30, according to the court documents. In the documents, he claims it was retaliatory for filing complaints. Now, he's seeking a "sum that the court or jury find to be fair and just, including attorney fees, costs and exemplary damages."
Campbell's response did not address Garza's allegation that he was terminated for his complaints.
In a written statement, Garza's lawyer Zachary Runyan said the whole situation has been very hard on his client.
"He thought Campbell's would be thankful that he reported Martin's behavior, but instead he was abruptly fired," Runyan, of Runyan Law Group in St. Clair Shores, Mich., told CBC News.
"We look forward to obtaining justice for Robert."
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Campbell’s employee said he was fired for reporting VP’s vulgar, ‘disgusting’ rant. Now he’s suing
Campbell Soup Company investigating alleged comments
‘S--t for f---ing poor people’: Campbell’s employee fired after complaining about VP’s rant
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MONROE, Mich. – A Campbell’s employee is suing the company because he said he was wrongfully terminated after he complained about an upper-level executive’s explosive tirade on the product and its customers.
“He has no filter,” said Robert Garza, of Monroe, about his former supervisor at Campbell Soup Company and current Vice President Martin Bally. “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 said he recorded an hour-long rant by the top Campbell Soup Company executive because he said he trusted his “instinct that something wasn’t right with Martin,” when he went to meet with him to discuss his salary. Instead, he said he sat at a restaurant and listened to an explosive, hour-long tirade. He recorded all of it.
Garza is now suing the company -- alleging racist remarks, admissions of drug use at work and retaliation after he tried to report it. The lawsuit was filed Thursday in Wayne County Circuit Court and names Campbell Soup Company, vice president and chief information security officer Martin Bally, and supervisor J.D. Aupperle as defendants.
Garza told Local 4 he began working remotely as a security analyst in September 2024 for the company’s Camden, New Jersey headquarters.
In the lawsuit, Garza alleges Bally said Campbell’s makes “highly processed food” for “poor people” and made several derogatory comments about Indian employees, calling them “idiots.”
“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---‘s in it,” part of the recording said. “Bioengineered meat -- I don’t wanna eat a piece of chicken that came from a 3-D printer.”
The recording lasted longer than an hour and 15 minutes and included what Garza said was a “disgusting” rant about his coworkers.
“F---ing Indians don’t know a f---ing thing,” the recording said. “Like they couldn’t think for their f---ing selves,” it said in part.
Garza said he felt sick, “pure disgust,” after the meeting, and again after hearing the rant.
Garza also said Bally admitted he often came to work high from marijuana edibles -- another claim included in the filing.
Garza kept the recordings to himself at first. In January 2025, he said went to his direct supervisor, Aupperle, to report what he’d heard.
Garza’s attorney, Zachary Runyan, said Garza was blindsided 20 days later.
“He reached out to his supervisor and told the supervisor what Martin was saying, and then out of nowhere, my client was fired,” Runyan said. “He was really sticking up for other people. 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.’ And the response to Robert sticking up for other people is he gets fired, which is ridiculous.”
Garza said the termination was shocking to understand -- especially because he said Bally had praised his performance during that same meeting.
“He had never had any disciplinary action, they had never written him up for work performance,” Runyan said.
The lawsuit claims Garza was fired Jan. 30, 2025, in retaliation for raising concerns about Bally’s behavior, and accuses the company of maintaining a racially hostile work environment.
Garza said he received no follow-up from Human Resources or Campbell’s. He said it took him 10 months to find another job -- and he calls the way the company handled everything “simply terrible.”
“They have a motto: ‘We treat you like family here at Campbell‘s -- come work for us,’” Garza said. “‘We treat our employees like family.’ That’s not the case.”
Campbell Soup Company provided a statement late Thursday, saying, “If accurate, the comments in the recording are unacceptable. They do not reflect our values and the culture of our company. We are actively investigating this matter.”
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About the Author
Erika Erickson
Erika has been reporting in Michigan since 2010 and is part of The Investigators on Local 4. Send her an email.
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Campbell's soup denys claims about products
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Campbell's IT chief on leave after lawsuit claims he said company's food is for 'poor people'
The Campbell’s Co. said Tuesday it has placed one of its executives on leave while it investigates claims that he made racist comments and mocked the company’s products and customers in an audio recording.
Martin Bally, Campbell’s vice president of information technology, was named in a lawsuit filed last week by Robert Garza, a former Campbell’s employee. The lawsuit was filed in Michigan, where both men live. Campbell’s is headquartered in New Jersey.
Garza claimed that Bally made racist remarks about Indian workers, whom he called “idiots,” according to the lawsuit. Garza said Bally also told him that he often went to work high after consuming marijuana edibles.
Garza said he told his manager, J.D. Aupperle, on Jan. 10 that he wanted to report Bally’s comments to Campbell’s human resources department. Garza said Aupperle didn’t encourage him to report the comments but also gave him no advice on how to proceed.
On Jan. 30, Garza was terminated from Campbell’s. He is seeking monetary damages from Campbell’s. He also names Bally and Aupperle in the lawsuit, saying they were responsible for his termination.
“Such language does not reflect our values and the culture of our company,” the company said. “We do not tolerate that kind of language under any circumstances.”
Campbell's added that the comments were allegedly made by someone in IT “who has nothing to do with how we make our food.”
“We are proud of the food we make, the people who make it and the high-quality ingredients we use to provide consumers with good food at a good value,” Campbell's said. “The comments heard on the recording about our food are not only inaccurate — they are patently absurd.”
Campbell’s Soup executive called its products food for ‘poor people’, lawsuit alleges
Executive Martin Bally put on leave after alleged remarks were purportedly recorded and attributed to him in lawsuit
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
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.
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