Campbell’s Soup VP Mocks ‘Poor People’ Who Buy Its Food in Secret Recording

Newsweek ^ | November 24, 2025 | Robert Alexander

[Morgana]

Campbell Soup Company is facing an employment discrimination and retaliation lawsuit in Wayne County Circuit Court after a former security analyst alleged he was fired for reporting inappropriate conduct by a senior executive.

The complaint, Garza v. Campbell Soup Company, case number 25-018465-CD, was filed on November 20, 2025, by the Runyan Law Group on behalf of plaintiff Robert Garza. The defendants are Campbell Soup Company and supervisor J.D. Aupperle.

The claims—centered on a secretly recorded tirade in which a senior vice president allegedly mocked the company’s products, its customers, and Indian employees—challenge the credibility of Campbell’s public values and highlight broader concerns about how corporations handle discrimination complaints.

Campbell Soup Company told Newsweek that—if the recording was legitimate—the comments were unacceptable and did not reflect its values, adding that the executive was on leave while an investigation was carried out.

Newsweek contacted attorneys for Garza for comment via email outside of normal office hours on Monday. Why It Matters

The lawsuit against Campbell Soup Company raises serious questions about executive accountability, workplace culture, and retaliation inside one of America’s most recognizable brands.

It could shape not only the company’s internal response but also wider conversations about employee protections, corporate transparency, and the consequences of leadership misconduct.

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Food
KEYWORDS:

[Morgana]

I'm sorry Campbell's soup feels this way. I switch to Progresso

[HYPOCRACY]

He speaks wisdom.

[Zhang Fei]

If true, the exec is done. How do you retain, let alone promote someone who doesn’t believe in the corporation’s core product? If the audio is AI-generated, this plaintiff could be looking at a prison sentence, much like Jussie Smolett.

[Morgana]

I figure it’s real and the exec figures the soup is beneath him.

[No name given]

Same for me.

[Secret Agent Man]

Luckily I haven’t bought them in years.

[BudgieRamone]

I really don’t care. I eat Campbells chicken noodle, split pea, and tomato on the regular and that doesn’t include the variety of Chunky soups I buy for quick easy lunches. it does its job and tastes fine with some crushed saltines. Guess I’m poor people.

[ArcadeQuarters]

Campbell’s soup has about 2000mg sodium per can. He’s not lying about it being garbage. Unfortunately most canned food is pretty bad.

[fhayek]

The exec is in real hot soup on this one, so to say. But how is this different than when we had Barack Obama, who mocked Americans and American values? Sort of our ‘core product’.

[Texas Eagle]

People didn’t already know their soups were human grade dig food? Come on, man. It’s not like it’s high quality stuff like Chef BoyArdee.

[Jamestown1630]

Nobody is taking my Campbell’s cream of mushroom from me. It’s an essential ingredient of Thursday’s Green Bean Casserole.

I don’t worry about health on Thanksgiving.

[lee martell]

Me-2! For my purposes, Campbell provides some good base ingredients for a soup, sauce or entre. I never expected perfection.
If I want something more particular, I’ll experiment in my kitchen-laboratory and do it myself. No processed food is going to be as good as most fresh foods.

As for Senor Motor-Mouth, he needs to be more professional, at least during business hours. Meaning, stop slamming the product. He lacks the discipline/ diplomacy for that job anyway.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

It’s not as if he said anything about Campbell soups that wasn’t true.

Printed synthetic chicken. That explains sooooo much. 🤡

[DesertRhino]

Bean with Bacon for me... I’m good too. 5 to 1 this is a Smollete scam from a disgruntled fired employee.

[Zhang Fei]

[The exec is in real hot soup on this one, so to say. But how is this different than when we had Barack Obama, who mocked Americans and American values? Sort of our ‘core product’.]

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The average Democrat constituent cares mainly about freebies. Obama delivered. The people deciding this exec’s future don’t have much they need from him other than output any number of other people could produce. Embarrassing his bosses will likely have a bad effect on his career prospects, at Campbell and anywhere else he looks for a job.

[GOPJ]

The guy complaining was a nobody in the tech department and is NOT a spokesperson for the company or even an executive. The reporter should have known 'below Sargent level we don't quote 'em."

I'm guessing Campbells could sue and win on this one.

[alternatives?]

Ditto.

[Reeses]

Now that there’s a hidden camera in everyone’s pocket, a Jeffrey Epstein-like blackmail economy is developing. Newsweak would have never run this story had Campbell’s paid regular bribes for advertisements nobody reads, and the employee was running a blackmail operation for a salary increase. One thing Campbell’s has going for it is that their best customers are too busy being poor to read Newsweak.

[KevinB]

Canned soup of any variety is unhealthy crap.

[Republican Wildcat]

Yeah, “Vice President” at a corporation that large may not be someone that high up the ladder at all. Some companies give that title to any department head.