Prego Wants to Record Your Dinner Conversations - And People Have Thoughts
Prego has been in the pasta sauce game since 1981. This week, it introduced a dinner table recording device, and the internet is still trying to process that.
On Monday, April 20, The Campbell's Company announced that Prego had partnered with StoryCorps - the national nonprofit dedicated to recording and preserving the stories of everyday Americans - to create something called the Connection Keeper.
It's a small, hockey puck-shaped audio recording device designed to sit in the center of the dinner table and capture family conversations with the press of a single button. No screen, no Wi-Fi, no Bluetooth, no AI. Just two spatial audio microphones, a 16GB microSD card that holds up to eight hours of recording, and a USB-C cable for transferring files.
@abcnewslive The popular pasta sauce company Prego is joining the tech world by officially launching a device that sits on your table and records dinner conversations. ABC News' Mike Dobuski explains the new collaboration with StoryCorps. #Prego#Technology#News#ABCNews
♬ original sound - ABC News Live - ABC News Live
The device is part of a $20 limited-edition bundle that includes a jar of Prego Traditional Pasta Sauce, a box of spaghetti, conversation prompt cards, and a step-by-step guide. Only 100 bundles are being produced, and they go on sale April 27 at pregoconnectionkeeper.com. Starting May 4, families can upload recordings to a dedicated StoryCorps portal and, if they choose, archive them at the Library of Congress.
"Through our partnership with StoryCorps, we're inviting families to slow down, reconnect, and preserve the warmth, laughter, and real conversations that turn everyday meals into lasting memories," said Jaime Zagami, Prego's Director of Marketing, in a statement.
StoryCorps CEO Sandra Clark added, "We believe listening is a profound way to honor and connect with our loved ones - and that some of the most meaningful stories are shared in everyday moments, like around the table."
It took approximately zero seconds for the internet to have thoughts.
"April fools day was weeks ago you know," one person wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
"Imagine this is how you get caught for admitting to a crime," another joked.
"Mamma mia they're-a doing a surveillance state oh!" chimed in a third.
"Why on god's green earth would anyone want this?" someone else asked.
"It's just gonna capture me eating cold spaghetti and meatballs out of a frankly ruined tupperware, standing in the kitchen with a mild hangover at 0845 on a Saturday," said another.
They would not approve! pic.twitter.com/Y4dzZIDmec
— bkmbooks (@bkmbooks) April 21, 2026
Fast Company called it "one of the weirdest brand collaborations of 2026." Others raised privacy concerns, questioning whether a $20 device with no internet connection could truly guarantee recordings stay private. Prego has said the device does not collect data or connect to the cloud, and that families have full control over who accesses their recordings.
StoryCorps, for its part, has been doing this kind of work since 2003. The nonprofit has recorded over 720,000 people across all 50 states, and its archive at the Library of Congress is the largest single collection of human voices ever gathered. The Connection Keeper is its first consumer device partnership with a food brand.
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This story was originally published April 23, 2026 at 8:59 AM.