Rule 14a-8 shareholder proposal · 2023
Humane World for Animals (formerly The Humane Society of the United States) at Campbell Soup
Ask that within three months of the annual meeting, and omitting proprietary information, Campbell's disclose a report detailing its conversion plans for achieving compliance with its cage-free egg commitment by 2025.
What happened
Result: Not approved at the annual meeting of 29 November 2023, as Item 5: 16,455,178 votes for, 233,898,313 against, 2,068,490 abstentions and 20,962,197 broker non-votes, as certified in Campbell's Item 5.07 Form 8-K. That is 6.6 percent of the shares voted for and against, or 6.5 percent if abstentions are counted in the base.
Not approved. The Accountability Board, which was not the proponent, told Campbell shareholders it would vote for the proposal, calling it a conspicuous cause for questioning when a company assures shareholders it has detailed conversion plans for a key goal and then keeps the details secret. Campbell's board answered that it had recently widened the scope of its animal welfare goals to cover prepared ingredients bought from suppliers as well as those it sources directly.