“Who buys our voice?” the executive allegedly asked. “I don’t buy Campbell’s products barely any more. It’s not healthy and I know what the f-ck’s in it… bioengineered meat.”
Campbell’s Soup has put one of its top-level executives on leave after a lawsuit included evidence indicating that then-Vice President of Information Technology Martin Bally had derided the company’s own products as “shit for … poor people.”
According to The Guardian, the lawsuit was filed last Thursday in Wayne County Circuit Court in Michigan. The plaintiff, Robert Garza, says he began working for Campbell’s as a security analyst in September 2024. About a month later, he met with Bally to discuss his salary. The meeting turned into an hour-long diatribe, during which Bally disparaged Campbell’s products, repeatedly made racist comments about Indian employees, and suggested that he sometimes came to work while high on cannabis edibles.
Garza said that he chose to record the meeting shortly after it began, feeling that “something wasn’t right.” The recordings were later reviewed by the Michigan-based news outlet WDIV, which confirmed that the voice allegedly to be Bally’s can be heard saying, “We have shit for fucking poor people.”
“Who buys our voice?” the voice asked. “I don’t buy Campbell’s products barely any more. It’s not healthy and 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,” he said.
Bally also allegedly interjected to share his hatred for ethnically Indian employees.
“Fucking Indians don’t know a fucking thing,” Bally said. “Like, they couldn’t think for their fucking selves.”
Garza said that the meeting left him with a feeling of “deep disgust,” but he chose to keep the recording secret until at least January, when he reported Bally’s comments and behavior to a supervisor. About 20 days later, Garza was informed that he no longer had a job.
Zachary Runyan, an attorney representing Garza, said that his client hadn’t expected to be retaliated against, especially considering the nature of his concerns.
“He went to his boss and said: ‘Martin is saying this about Indian co-workers we have, he’s saying this about people who buy our food, who keep our company open, and I don’t think that should be allowed,’” Runyan told WDIV. “And the response to Robert sticking up for other people is he gets fired, which is ridiculous.”
Campbell’s, in response, said that it has placed Bally on suspension pending an investigation.
“If accurate, the comments in the recording are unacceptable,” Campbell’s said in a statement. “They do not reflect our values and the culture of our company.”
Sources
Campbell’s fires executive accused of making racist remarks and labeling food as for ‘poor people’
Campbell’s Soup executive called its products food for ‘poor people’, lawsuit alleges
Campbell’s stands by product after exec is accused of labeling it as food for ‘poor people’
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