Progresso is better soup, but I think that the reason you cited is the reason for Campbell’s drop in sales.
A 9% drop in a product being sold by a company for nearly 150 years is huge.
I think that when the economy is doing better there’s fewer people that would want soup. More people are eating out more often.
I rarely have soup, when I do it isn’t Campbell’s. We do use cream of mushroom in recipes however.
If you are comparing the condensed soup to Progresso, yes. Campbell’s does have the comparable “Chunky” and home-style lines that are not condensed that are similar to Progresso.
I used to eat soup on a regular basis but in recent years for some reason just haven’t done so nearly as much...I guess I was not alone in this trend based on this article.