My mom always advised me to gobble chicken noodle soup when not feeling well, and Campbelll’s was the most ubiquitous soup of that variety.
As I’ve gotten older, however, I no longer find Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup to do the trick. First of all, in one can there doesn’t appear to be more than 10 pieces of what they call chicken. Most of the concoction is some sort of liquid with strands of pasta.
With that as my introduction, it turns out that the Campbell’s bigwigs are upset at an executive whose comments went public.
An audio appearing to be by Martin Bally, Campbell’s vice president of information technology (who has since been terminated, quotes him as saying the company’s soups are made with “highly processed foods” targeted at “poor people.”
The authenticity of the chicken found in the company’s much-ballyhooed soup also came into question.
“Campbell’s soups are made with real chicken. Period,” the company retorted in a statement.
“If the comments heard on the audio recording were in fact made by Mr. Bally, they are unacceptable,” the company elaborated. “Such language does not reflect our values and the culture of our company.”
Campbell’s is also the subject of a lawsuit brought by a former employee, who claims to have been illegally discharged after reporting on Balla’s coments. The alleged Bally audio came to light as a byproduct of the lawsuit.
“Mmm, mmm, not so good” for the brand.
Personally, I have long questioned what those reported chicken chunks really are. I switched to another brand of chicken noodle soup recently after experiencing continued dissatisfaction with Campbell’s version (long before this audio was released).
