Call it a product un-endorsement: an executive for the Campbell’s Company, famous makers of canned soup, blasted his employer’s products as “s**t for f***king poor people,” packed with artificial ingredients he refuses to eat.
“Who buys our s**t?” Martin Bally, Campbell’s vice president for internet technology, purportedly rants in a conversation secretly recorded by a subordinate. “I don’t buy Campbell’s products, barely, anymore.”
Bally apparently didn’t stop there, ladling in some casual racism towards his South Asian coworkers, and allegedly boasting he sometimes reported to the office high on cannabis edibles.
Yet Robert Garza, the employee who recorded the blistering, hour-long tirade, was canned — not Bally. So Garza sued, the recording became public, Bally was suspended, and Campbell’s is now cleaning up a very messy public relations disaster.
But the recording also highlights the lack of racial diversity in corporate leadership. Study after study has found that C-suite positions in corporate America are primarily white and male, and Black and Latino candidates have trouble breaking the “glass ceiling.”
Dishing Up More Than Soup
Garza seemed to confirm it in an interview with WDIV, a Detroit TV station.
“He has no filter,” Garza said. “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.”
In a statement posted on its website, Campbell’s doesn’t confirm that Bally’s is the voice on the recording, but says he has been suspended pending an investigation.
“If the comments heard on the audio recording were in fact made by Mr. Bally, they are unacceptable,” according to the statement. “Such language does not reflect our values and the culture of our company.”
Regarding his alleged remarks about Campbell’s food, the company pointed out that Bally is an IT expert, not a chef, and “has nothing to do with how we make our food.” The assertion that it uses artificial ingredients, the company said, “is completely inaccurate and absurd.”
The case is drawing international attention since Garza filed suit on Nov. 20, alleging the company fired him less than three weeks after he reported Bally’s offensive comments. A Michigan resident, Garza worked remotely for Campbell’s, which is based in Camden, New Jersey.
The incident unfolded in late 2024, not long after Garza began working for Campbell’s. He told WDIV he met with Bally at a restaurant to discuss his salary, but decided to record the conversation because he believed “something wasn’t right with Martin.”
Their conversation quickly boiled over, Garza says, when Bally allegedly began talking about Campbell’s products. Besides declaring it was fit only for poor people, he said the food is “not healthy, now that I know what the f*** is in it.”
At one point, the man on the recording says the company’s food is loaded with artificial ingredients, including “bioengineered” meat: “I don’t wanna eat a piece of chicken that came from a 3-D printer.”
Bally then allegedly pivots to disparaging Campbell’s South Asian employees, calling them “idiots” and saying they “couldn’t think for their f—ing selves.” And in his court filing, Garza alleges Bally told him he regularly showed up for work high on edibles.
Alarmed, Garza reportedly told his immediate supervisor about Bally, but Campbell’s fired Garza instead on Jan. 20.
Florida Attorney General Digs In
The controversy could take a big bite out of Campbell’s. Florida’s Attorney General James Uthmeier has announced that it will investigate the allegations that Campbell’s produces food with artificial meat.
“Florida bans lab-grown meat,” the attorney general posted on X on Monday. “Our consumer protection division is launching an investigation and will demand answers from Campbell’s.”
As of Tuesday, the company has added a new page to its site titled, “Campbell Soups: The Facts About Our Chicken.”
In 2020, Campbell’s partnered with the Black Resource Group to launch the BRG Social Justice Fund, a corporate philanthropy initiative pledging $1.5 million over three years to organizations fighting racism and expanding opportunities for Black communities.
Allegations in Garza’s lawsuit raise concerns about whether all levels of leadership reflect the company’s anti-racist values. Advocacy groups have previously called on Campbell’s to increase transparency around workforce diversity data and staff promotion opportunities.
Garza’s attorneys say he has suffered “emotional, reputational and economic harm” and is seeking unspecified damages.