Campbell’s in Hot Water: Simmering the Brand Back Down

A beloved American brand finds itself in boiling hot water after a senior executive at Campbell’s is secretly recorded making racist remarks, mocking customers, disparaging the company’s products, and boasting about substance use at work. The recording goes public, the executive is fired, and Campbell’s stock hits a 52-week low. But the real question is not whether the executive deserved to go, it’s what this incident reveals about leadership, culture, and accountability inside the organization.

In this episode, our panel is joined by brand growth advisor Javier Farfan (NFL, New Balance, PepsiCo, McDonald's, Anheuser Busch) to unpack what happens when private behavior becomes public, how quickly trust can erode, and why firing one executive is rarely enough to fix a systemic problem. The discussion explores the internal cultural damage, the external brand risk, and the opportunity Campbell’s now has to reset its values, reconnect with consumers, and rebuild trust from the inside out.

Rather than debating whether the scandal will blow over, the conversation focuses on what meaningful recovery actually looks like and what brands must do when values, leadership behavior, and public perception collide.

Key Topics & Takeaways

• Why this incident may be more than a single “bad apple”
• How lower-level employees can change the balance of power inside companies
• The internal ripple effects of executive misconduct on morale and quality
• Psychological safety, retaliation, and why employees stop speaking up
• Culture as a system, not a slogan on the wall
• The difference between cosmetic fixes and structural change
• Why silence and minimal PR responses no longer work
• How consumer trust, nostalgia, and brand legacy can be rebuilt
• Turning a crisis into a catalyst for reinvention

Strategic Fixes Explored

• Isolating the incident without denying systemic responsibility
• Holding executives to higher character and integrity standards
• Making leadership behavior measurable, not theoretical
• Reinforcing internal accountability and psychological safety
• Re-centering the brand around community, care, and accessibility
• Leveraging nostalgia and emotional connection without being performative
• Using crisis moments as opportunities for product and brand evolution

Who This Episode Is For

• Brand, marketing, and communications leaders
• Executives and people managers
• HR and culture leaders
• Crisis management and PR professionals
• Anyone interested in how power, culture, and trust intersect inside large organizations

Disclaimer

A quick disclaimer. We are going into this somewhat cold and nothing we say should be construed as legal advice, financial advice or anything that would get us in trouble. These are our views and opinions. We're here to ask the kinds of questions everyone's thinking. Have an engaging conversation and maybe come to some conclusions that we feel are worth exploring. By the end, if we fixed it, you're welcome. All trademarks, IP and brand elements discussed are property of their respective owners.

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