Andy Warhol x Campbell's Soup 50th Anniversary Cans

Andy Warhol x Campbell's Soup 50th Anniversary Tomato Soup Cans

The world's biggest soup maker introduced special edition cans of its condensed tomato soup bearing labels reminiscent of pop artist's Andy Warhol paintings at Target stores starting this past Sunday September 1st, 2012. The 1.2 million cans will cost .75 cents each. which sold out rather fast in the surrounding Los Angeles area. Crowds gathered and lines formed before some Target stores even opened at 9:00am. The promotion comes as Campbell looks to turn around its struggling soup business after years of declining sales. The company plans to introduce dozens of new products this year. The cans to be sold at Target will come in four color schemes, with famed Warhol quotes, such as "In the future, everybody will be world-famous for 15 minutes."

Campbell Soup's embrace of Warhol's iconic imagery is a switch from its initial reaction to Warhol's use of the cans in a painting, when the company considered taking legal action before deciding to see how the paintings were received by the public. "There's some evidence to show there was a little bit of concern," said Jonathon Thorn, an archivist for Campbell Soup. "But they decided to take a wait-and-see approach."

By 1964, however, the company realized the paintings were becoming a phenomenon and embraced the depictions. Campbell's marketing manager even sent Warhol a letter expressing admiration for his work.

"I have since learned that you like tomato soup," William MacFarland wrote in the letter. "I am taking the liberty of having a couple cases of our tomato soup delivered to you."

Later that same year, Campbell commissioned Warhol to do a painting of a can of Campbell's tomato soup as a gift for its retiring board chairman, Oliver G. Willits; Warhol was paid $2,000 for the work. Campbell also invited the artist to visit its headquarters in Camden, N.J., although Thorn said there's no indication a visit ever took place.

The red-and-white Campbell label made its debut in 1898. Significant changes to the front of the can have been made only a handful of times since then. After Warhol completed the Campbell boardroom painting, the company had no further contact with him until 1985, when the company commissioned the famed artist to paint packages of its new dry soup mixes for advertisements. Warhol died about two years later.

In 1993, the company bought a Warhol painting of one of its tomato soup cans to hang in the boardroom of its headquarters. The company also has a licensing agreement with the Warhol estate to sell clothing, magnets and other gear, mostly overseas, bearing the artist's renditions.

Campbell has sold Warhol-inspired cans on two other occasions, although on much smaller scales. In 2004, the company sold 75,000 four-packs of Warhol-inspired cans at Giant Eagle, a Pittsburgh-based supermarket operator. During the holiday season in 2006, the company sold 12,000 units at Barney's, a high-end department store, in New York.