No matter how many cans of Campbell's Soup you've eaten in your life, there are probably
some things you still don't know about it.
There's always something comforting about pouring all the broth and the fixings into
your bowl, so let's talk fun facts.
Campbell's red and white cans are among the most iconic designs on grocery shelves, but
they almost didn't look that way at all.
The cans' original colors were blue and orange, though it didn't take long for that to change.
In 1897, the company rolled out its condensed soups, and it was only a year before the labels
became red and white.
Treasurer and GM Herberton L. Williams is credited with making the change after attending
a college football game, as he liked the look of Cornell University's red and white uniforms.
Thus a food icon was born.
There are some other surprising facts about that iconic label.
For one thing, the distinctive Campbell's font is believed to be based on the actual
signature of company founder Joseph Campbell, and it was meant to convey a down-home feeling.
Also, the medallion changed in the first few years of the company's existence.
The one we're familiar with today is a medal that Campbell's won for excellence at a world's
fair in Paris in 1900.
We're fortunate enough to live in a world of convenience, and it's easy now to forget
just how revolutionary the idea of condensed soup was.
We have Campbell's to thank for the invention of condensed soup, thanks to its resident
chemist.
The company was founded in 1869, and its first soup plant was located in Camden, New Jersey.
But it wasn't until 1897 that chemist John T. Dorrance perfected the process for creating
shelf-stable condensed soups.
Born in Philadelphia in 1873, Dorrance studied abroad in Germany before heading to Paris
to work in the city's food industry.
While there, he developed the basic idea behind condensed soup.
He wanted to come up with a way that restaurants could buy, ship, store, and prepare soup that
was convenient every step of the way.
That solution was, of course, condensed soup, and it was great for the home cook as well.
Those first cans sold for 10 cents each in 1897, and they remained under a dollar all
the way until 2012.
Soup can be one of the healthiest meals you can make at home, but can canned soups be
just as healthy?
With that goal in mind, in 2010 Campbell's took some major strides toward lowering the
amount of sodium in its soups.
A significant number of its products got a makeover, which reduced the sodium content
of each can by about 45 percent on average.
However, a year later, sales had plummeted so much that the sodium ended up going right
back in.
For some reference, the American Heart Association recommends limiting sodium intake to no more
than 1500 milligrams per day.
Before the change, a single serving of Campbell's Select Harvest soup contained around 800 milligrams,
which was then reduced to 480 milligrams.
Since 2011, those soups went back up to an average of 650 milligrams per serving after
the brand decided to put more focus on taste.
"A lot of sodium's hidden in food anyways."
Andy Warhol's famous Campbell's Soup Cans art installation is the very definition of
pop art.
It features 32 canvases, each depicting a different kind of Campbell's soup, and Warhol
himself reportedly loved the actual product.
In fact he was quoted as saying,
"I used to drink it.
I used to have the same lunch every day, for 20 years, I guess, the same thing over and
over."
No wonder he was so familiar with those cans!
"Then somebody can just be like a store and they just come in and ask you for a can of
soup, and you- just the easiest way to do something."
The cans ultimately launched his entire career, and if you look closely at them, you'll discover
that they're not 100 percent identical, despite Warhol's attempt to mimic a machine-stamped
look.
Campbell's approved of the pieces, too, and even issued a "Souper Dress" made out of paper
that was inspired by Warhol's work.
Star Wars is one of the most popular media franchises around, and unsurprisingly Star
Wars product placement has been everywhere for decades.
And that includes Campbell's soup cans.
In 2015, the company advertised its Star Wars-themed cans with a commercial starring two dads and
their son.
Unfortunately the ad inspired some backlash, and it wasn't because of the questionable
Darth Vader impressions.
"Cooper, I am your father."
The organization One Million Moms was outraged over the commercial, and so were commenters
on Campbell's Facebook page.
The hate was especially heartbreaking for the three people in the ad, as they're not
just actors, they're also a real family: Larry Sullivan, David Monahan, and their son Cooper.
By the time of the Star Wars spot, Sullivan and Monahan had been together for more than
a decade, and they had exactly the sort of family chemistry that Campbell's was looking
for.
"May the forced product integration be with you."
There's a lot more to Campbell's than just Campbell's Soup.
The company actually owns a significant number of subsidiaries.
Many of them are probably on your regular shopping lists, and you might be surprised
to learn what falls under this particular corporate umbrella.
Among the less surprising inclusions are the foods that aren't too different from soup,
like SpaghettiOs.
And of course there are other Campbell's soup lines like Chunky, Healthy Request, Ready
Meals, and Slow Kettle Style.
Campbell's also owns Pace, which consists of Mexican-style salsas, sauces, and dips.
Then there are the Italian-style sauces in the Campbell's family thanks to Prego.
If you head over to the drink market, there's V8 and V8 Splash.
And if you're looking for organic, there's a line of snacks and drinks called Plum Organics.
A couple of big ones still left to be mentioned include Pepperidge Farm and Goldfish.
Based on that last partnership, maybe we should all be crumbling our fishy crackers into our
Campbell's soup.
The can isn't the only iconic part of Campbell's branding.
The Campbell's Soup Kids have been featured in countless ads as well, and they don't look
their age at all.
For National Soup Month in January 2014, Washington University in St. Louis wrote about the history
of the little tots.
They were born, so to speak, in 1904, and they were drawn by children's book illustrator
Grace Wiederseim.
Her husband at the time, Theodore, worked in Campbell's advertising department, and
when she added the kids to one of his layouts, the company loved it.
It wasn't long before the kids were being featured in all of Campbell's ads, but we
don't know too much about Grace herself.
The Campbell's Kids would go on to become a major part of advertising history, but unfortunately
Grace's marriage wasn't similarly long-lasting, as she and Theodore divorced in 1911.
Consumers rely on honest packaging to make all kinds of decisions, especially if they're
trying to eat healthy.
Unfortunately for Campbell's, the company has been the target of multiple lawsuits claiming
its labeling doesn't quite match up with what's inside the packaging.
In 2013, a lawsuit filed against Campbell's claimed that its "Heart-Check Mark" label
was misleading and didn't take into account the high levels of sodium in each serving.
A similar suit was filed in 2010 that Campbell's settled in 2011.
In 2016, a plaintiff sued after finding out that Campbell's paid the American Heart Association
for the right to label its products as "healthy."
The suit was ultimately dismissed the following year.
Also dismissed was a class action lawsuit filed against Campbell's for the labeling
of their V8 juice.
The labels state that the products are "100% Juice."
Plaintiffs believed that it misled customers into thinking that they were buying a product
that contained only the juices of the fruit shown on the label as opposed to a base mixture
of fruit and vegetable juices.
Campbell's has been around for more than a hundred years, so it has plenty of history
to draw upon.
In 2016, the company rediscovered the old recipe for its beefsteak tomato soup from
1915, and decided to use it for a limited run of 10,000 cans.
They would go on sale in New Jersey and Pennsylvania Cracker Barrel locations, and the plan was
to follow the old recipe as closely as possible.
That sounds easier than it actually was, though, as instructions involved measurements like
"a #16 bucket."
So Campbell's had to reach out to long-retired employees to get some insight on cooking and
preparation methods that were a century old.
Ironically, though, there was ultimately only one major change that they had to make to
the recipe.
Perhaps surprisingly, that change consisted of cutting down the salt content.
Would a soup by any other name taste as good?
Campbell's might be a global brand, but there was some seriously strange stuff going on
in its United Kingdom division in the late 2000s.
For a long time, residents of Great Britain and Ireland could pick up those iconic Campbell's
Soup cans at their local grocery store just like their American counterparts.
But that all changed in 2008.
As it turns out, Campbell's Soup UK isn't actually owned by Campbell's Soup.
Instead, it's owned by Premier Foods, which in 2006 bought the company, but not the brand.
And even stranger, when Premier Foods bought Campbell's Soup, they didn't get indefinite
permission to use their name and label.
That all expired in 2008, which meant that they needed to do some quick rebranding.
Thus, Campbell's Soup became Batchelors Condensed Soup, and the cans acknowledged it by declaring,
"Formerly Campbell's.
Same great taste."
And it was indeed the same great taste, as the recipes remained unchanged, even though
all 22 flavors were renamed.
Fast forward to 2011, and things got even weirder.
Campbell's announced that they would partner with a dry food manufacturer called Symington's
to kick off a whole new British product line branded with the familiar Campbell's Soup
colors and packaging.
That's some serious competition!
Even well-established companies need to be on the lookout for how to continually update
their product and stay relevant in an ever-changing market.
People love convenience, and there's nothing that's much more convenient than Campbell's
soup, except perhaps Campbell's that's delivered right to your door.
So in 2017, the company started testing out a home delivery service.
It was developed in hopes of connecting with those customers who opt for fresh foods instead
of canned.
However, it seems that this program didn't work out too successfully.
As of June 2020, there's no trace of the delivery service on Campbell's website.
At the same time as the delivery service was being tested, the company also talked about
a shift to more local, fresh ingredients, and they were opting for mason jar packaging
to showcase their new soups.
We must say, though, no matter how trendy mason jars are, art and business history simply
wouldn't be the same without those iconic aluminium cans.
If you're trying to make more responsible choices when it comes to your purchasing habits,
you can be confident in sticking with Campbell's.
In 2019, the media and research company Corporate Knights placed Campbell's Soup on its annual
list of Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World.
That's impressive, and more impressive is the fact that Campbell's was one of only 22
American companies to make the list, and they were one of only two United States-based food
companies.
This is far from Campbell's only award.
After the company was recognized by Corporate Responsibility Magazine for the eighth year
running in 2018, Forbes talked to Dave Stangis, Campbell's Vice President of Corporate Responsibility
and Chief Sustainability Officer.
According to him, there was a lot going on in 2018.
There was work underway to shift more of the company to renewable energy and increase their
recycling output.
They were doing it all in line with a goal that they'd set in 2010 to reduce their environmental
footprint by half by 2020.
As Stangis put it,
"Find your principles and decide what you stand for.
It's a lot more productive to advocate what you're for rather than to argue for things
you're against."
"I think it's a great time to be a sustainability professional."
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