No More Campbell’s Soup for Me

I wrote this post in October of 2006, and I am proud to report that I have not bought a can of Campbell's soup since that time.

I was raised on Campbell's soup.

Like most kids of my generation, Campbell's tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich was a staple on rainy days--and in Hoquiam, Washington, there were a lot of rainy days.

But no more. From now on, my tomato soup of choice is the Pacific Natural Foods brand.

Here's why--

Campbell slapped pink ribbons on cans of two types of soup, tomato and chicken noodle, and sold 7 million cans to Kroger, twice the 3.5 million cans it usually sells the grocery chain during the month of October.

Campbell and Kroger would like you to think that the pink soup effort is about doing good, but that's not it: It's about selling more soup. And canned soup sales have been lagging the past few years.

First, consider the numbers: According to Advertising Age, Campbell has said it will donate 3.5 cents per pink can of soup sold, or $250,000, (I'm not sure if that's whichever is greater, or whichever is less) to Komen.

In case you haven't been following the cost of cancer care and research lately, that's peanuts. My cancer care this year will cost more than $300,000. That's ONE woman with breast cancer.

For cancer research, $250,000 doesn't even cover the cost of one modest clinical trial or laboratory study for one year.

I've contacted the Campbell folks via e-mail, asking for an interview to discuss the pink soup, but they have not responded. So for now I'll have to go with second-hand information from Advertising Age, which published a story online on Oct. 3 praising Campbell for its ability to sell more soup by labeling it in pink.

Read Strategy Increases Sales of Campbell's Soup

"The potential payoff is big for the company, even after the donation is deducted," Ad Age concludes.

The ins and outs of retail pricing and profit margins are a bit beyond my expertise, but assume that Kroger sells those extra 3.5 million cans of soup at a profit margin of 30 cents per can, which is probably low, as the markup for brand-label canned soups is about 1.4 to 1.5.

Kroger makes more than a million dollars in "extra" profits (not sales, profits) and gives Komen $250,000.

Ad Age also reports that a 2004 survey on cause marketing done by Boston brand-strategy firm Cone found that 91 percent of the people surveyed said they have a more positive image of a company or product when it supports a cause.

Well, I'm part of the 9 percent who are at least skeptical of companies who "do good" to make a profit, and I'm working to change the minds of the other 91 percent who haven't thought this one through.

Meanwhile, if companies truly want to support a cause, they need to follow the example of M-A-C Cosmetics, which is donating every cent of the selling price of its Viva Glam lipstick and lipgloss to the M-A-C AIDS Fund, which supports men, women, and children living with AIDS.

According to the company's Web site, it has donated more than $70 million to this cause to date. Looks like I have a new brand of lipstick, as well as a new brand of soup.

@ Jeanne Sather 2006

Comments

[Jessica]

Do some people with cancer actually feel empowered knowing their neighbors hand out pink candies to trick-or-treaters?

[amy]

This makes my blood boil, particularly after trying to find an old friend and learning yesterday that she'd died of breast cancer...The idea that pink soup helps in any way, shape or form makes me sick.