The Campbell鈥檚 Co. said Tuesday it has placed one of its executives on leave while it investigates claims that he made racist comments and mocked the company鈥檚 products and customers in an audio recording.
Martin Bally, Campbell鈥檚 vice president of information technology, was named in a lawsuit filed last week by Robert Garza, a former Campbell鈥檚 employee. The lawsuit was filed in Michigan, where both men live. Campbell鈥檚 is headquartered in New Jersey.
In the lawsuit, Garza claimed he met with Bally in November 2024 to discuss his salary. During the meeting, which Garza allegedly recorded, Bally described Campbell鈥檚 as 鈥渉ighly process(ed) food鈥� and said it was for 鈥減oor people.鈥�
Garza claimed that Bally made racist remarks about Indian workers, whom he called 鈥渋diots,鈥� according to the lawsuit. Garza said Bally also told him that he often went to work high after consuming marijuana edibles.
Garza said he told his manager, J.D. Aupperle, on Jan. 10 that he wanted to report Bally鈥檚 comments to Campbell鈥檚 human resources department. Garza said Aupperle didn鈥檛 encourage him to report the comments but also gave him no advice on how to proceed.
On Jan. 30, Garza was terminated from Campbell鈥檚. He is seeking monetary damages from Campbell鈥檚. He also names Bally and Aupperle in the lawsuit, saying they were responsible for his termination.
In its statement Tuesday, Campbell’s said that if the comments on the audio recording were in fact made by Bally, they are unacceptable.
鈥淪uch language does not reflect our values and the culture of our company,鈥� the company said. 鈥淲e do not tolerate that kind of language under any circumstances.鈥�
Campbell’s added that the comments were allegedly made by someone in IT 鈥渨ho has nothing to do with how we make our food.鈥�
鈥淲e are proud of the food we make, the people who make it and the high-quality ingredients we use to provide consumers with good food at a good value,鈥� Campbell’s said. 鈥淭he comments heard on the recording about our food are not only inaccurate 鈥� they are patently absurd.鈥�
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
