Cambell's exec: our soup is shit for poor people

I always appreciate truth in advertising. Other bigwigs at Campbell’s might not agree.

As part of a wrongful termination suit, a former employee has produced recordings of his boss, a VP of information technology, sharing this wisdom along with statements like "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.”

And for good measure, he threw in some racism about “fucking Indians” too. He sounds like a peach.

Rephrased: Campbell’s IT guy is a racist conspiracy theory nut. (Nobody is using vat-grown meat yet, it still costs much more than regular meat.)

The good news is that he’s just the IT executive and his (mis)inderstanding of his company’s product, while unusual and concerning, is not especially damaging to has ability to function within the company. An IT specialist can IT anything. (Like a manager can manage anything.)

The bad news is that he’s still a racist CT loser.

Yeah but when you tank the company stock because of something you said you are not likely to endear yourself to your bosses. I would expect that person to be fired unless they are somehow the only person who can do that job (not likely).

What some IT guy says shouldn’t matter, but it still does. Headlines don’t say IT, they just say Campbell’s executive. And Florida’s attorney general yesterday announced an investigation of Campbell’s to determine if they are using illegal “lab grown meat.”

It’s all BS and grandstanding of course, but it’s not exactly great press.

How full of trumped-up rage do you have to be to say shit like that in public? Even if “public” is just venting in front of underlings at work.

A corporate VP (even of IT) doesn’t get to that position without being aware of how to play politics and suck-up and get-along.

Is it illegal?

The executive who made the rant was wrong, of course, but Googling, Michigan is a two-party consent state, so could the employee get into trouble for record it?

Seems so. Whether it will hold up in court is another question. Not sure it is settled law yet:

But not everyone is a fan of UPSIDE’s innovative product. On May 1, 2024, Florida Gov.Ron DeSantis signed SB 1084, the first law in the country to ban the manufacture, distribution, or sale of cultivated meat.

IANAL, but it’s hard to imagine an argument against it that would stand up. State laws can do almost anything, so long as it doesn’t conflict with the state or federal constitution, or a federal law on something where the feds have jurisdiction, and I can’t imagine that there’s anything in the Florida constitution protecting the production or distribution of lab-grown meat.

(Aside: I’m currently eating a bowl of Campbell’s soup)

If I recall correctly, Campbell’s Chicken Bouillon won some contest against a number of fancy schmancy canned chicken bouillons as the best tasting.

Your mileage may vary.

True, but you’ve got to pick your battles. Campbell’s VP of IT criticizing the healthiness and the ingredients in Campbell’s soups is as silly as Campbell’s head chef criticizing the coding used in Campbell’s IT software.

He might have criticized something he actually knew about, in other words; rather than something he likely does not.