Campbell Soup Company (), also known as
Campbell's, is a well-known
American producer of
canned soups and related products. Campbell's products are sold in 120 countries around the world. It is headquartered in
Camden,
New Jersey.
History
Campbell's was founded in 1869 by Joseph A. Campbell and Abraham Anderson, an
icebox manufacturer. The company was originally called the "Joseph A. Campbell Preserve Company" and produced canned
tomatoes,
vegetables,
jellies, soups,
condiments, and
minced meats.
By 1896, Anderson left the partnership, leaving Campbell to reorganize and form a new company, Joseph Campbell & Co. In 1897, a nephew of one of the new Campbell partners, Dr.
John T. Dorrance, began working for the company at a wage of $7.50 a week. Dorrance, a gifted chemist with degrees from
MIT and
Göttingen University,
Germany, developed a commercially viable method for condensing soup by halving the quantity of its heaviest ingredient:
water.
In 1898, Herberton Williams, a Campbell's executive, convinced the company to adopt a cherry red and bright white color scheme, because he was taken by the crisp colors of the
Cornell University football team's uniforms. To this day, the layout of the can, with its red and white design and the metallic gold medal seal from the 1900 Paris Exhibition, has changed very little.
Entrance to Campbell Soup headquarters in
CamdenCampbell Soup became one of largest food companies in the
world under the leadership of
William Beverly Murphy. He was elected executive vice president of Campbell Soup in 1949 and was president and
CEO from 1953 to 1972. While at Campbell's Soup Company, he took the corporation public and increased its brand portfolio to include Pepperidge Farm's breads, cookies, and crackers, Franco-American's gravies and pastas, V8 vegetable juices, Swanson broths, and Godiva's chocolates.
Campbell Soup invested heavily in
advertising since its inception, and many of its promotional campaigns have proven value in the
Americana collectible advertising market. Perhaps best known are the "Campbell Kids" who though color scheme represented the recognizable soup.
Ronald Reagan was a spokesman for
V8 when it was first introduced. A "pretty groovy deal" in 1968 offered a paper Souper Dress available for $1.00 and two labels. Also produced were Campbell's Menu Books and
Help for the Hostess series of cookbooks. One of the longest lasting recipes, but certainly odd to modern tastebuds, is the recipe for a maroon colored Tomato Soup Cake.
In addition to collectible advertising, the company has also had notable commercial sponsorships. Among these was
The Campbell Playhouse, which had previously been
Orson Welles's
Mercury Theatre On The Air. Campbell's took over as sponsor of the radio theater program in December 1938.
In the UK and Ireland, Campbell Soup was rebranded as Batchelors Condensed Soup (UK) and Erin (Ireland) in March 2008, when the license to use the brand name expired.
Premier Foods,
St. Albans,
Hertfordshire bought the Campbell Soup Company in the UK and Ireland, for £450m ($830m) in 2006, but was licensed to use the brand only until 2008. Under this agreement the US-based Campbell Soup Company will continue to produce Campbell's Condensed Soup but cannot sell the product in the UK for a further 5 years.
In pop art
For further information, see Campbell's Soup Cans.In
1962, artist
Andy Warhol took the familiar look of the Campbell's soup can and integrated it into a series of
pop art silkscreens, a theme he would return to off and on through the 1960s and 1970s. The first batch in 1962 were a series of 32 canvases. At first, the cans were accurate representations of actual Campbell's cans, but as his series progresed, they became more surrealistic, with Warhol experimenting with negative-reversed color schemes and other varied techniques (many of these which would be used on other Warhol paintings of the period, such as his celebrity silkscreens of the 1960s.) The silkscreens themselves have become iconic pieces of pop art, with one in particular,
Small Torn Campbell Soup Can (Pepper Pot) (1962), commanding a price of $11.8 million at auction in 2006.
In 2004, Campbell's themselves recognized Warhol's art by releasing in the eastern United States a limited-edition series of cans that were inspired by the coloring and silkscreen effects of Warhol's pieces. This marked one of the few times in the company's history that they would change the trade dress for their main canned-soup line in any substantial manner.
Health
Many canned soups, including Campbell's condensed and Chunky varieties, contain relatively high quantities of
sodium and thus are not desirable for those on low-sodium diets. However, Campbell's Chunky, Healthy Request and other soups, as well as their V-8 and Tomato juices, have reduced sodium levels.. These soups use
sea salt as one of the methods in lowering sodium. In the fall of 2007, Campbell's was awarded a Certificate of Excellence for their efforts in lowering sodium levels, from
Blood Pressure Canada.. By autumn 2009, Campbell's claims it will have lowered the sodium content in 50% of its soups range.
Brands
Campbell's owns numerous brands, categorized for different lines. Many of Campbell's brands are listed below.
Soups
- Campbell's Condensed Soups: Campbell's flagship line
- Campbell's Chunky Soups: Uncondensed soups with large portions of vegetables and other ingredients.
- Campbell's Fun Favorites Soups
- Campbell's Healthy Request Soups: Soups with lower quantities of ingredients such as sodium
- Campbell's Kitchen Classics Soups
- Campbell's Select Harvest Soups (Prior to 2008, this line was called “Select”. In 2008, the line was renamed “Select harvest” and given newly restyled labels.)
- Campbell's Oriental Soups: Chinese-style oriental soups
- Campbell's Soup at Hand Soups: Drinkable soups in special microwave-safe cans
- Campbell's Velish: Name used in Australia for range of vegetarian soups
- Campbell's Country Ladle: Name used in Australia for range of home style soups
- Wolfgang Puck Soups: Campbell bought the soup business from Wolfgang Puck Worldwide Inc. in an agreement that allows Campbell to use the Wolfgang Puck brand on soup, stock and broth products in North America as well as the option to expand the brand into other areas.
Meatballs
Meal kits
- Campbell's Supper Bakes Meal Kits
Pace
Pepperidge Farm
Prego
Swanson
Beverages
Food services
- Campbell Food Service: School cafeteria service
Other brands
- StockPot Soups (Everett WA, USA)
