The Campbell Soup Company makes more than just soup. For serious business reasons, it's dropping the world "Soup" from its name—and, if reporting at NPR and the BBC is correct, formally adding the apostrophe to become, quote, "The Campbell's Company."
The Camden, N.J.,-based food giant said changing its name to The Campbell's Company is "part of its evolution" as it adopts a "new strategy [and] new mission." "This subtle yet important change retains the company's iconic name recognition, reputation and equity built over 155 years while better reflecting the full breadth of the company's portfolio," Campbell's CEO Mark Clouse told investors this week.
"The Campbell's Company," not "The Campbell Company." The same wild apostrophe is quoted elsewhere. The rationale will perhaps be something like "Campbell's" being such a familiar brand or trademark, but it feels like Idiocracy: even St. God's got the apostrophe right! Just call the company "Campbell's." You can have the "The" or you can have the apostrophe. Given possessive form, 'The Campbell" sounds like something from British folklore that reduces children to broth.
