The PR person in me is super proud of Chipotle restaurants right now.
I’ve never eaten at a Chipotle. I may not ever. I mostly cook at home (you know, that’s kinda my thing) and there are few places I can do so safely, anyways. Most of my serious foodie friends would probably not set foot in the chain, just because it’s a chain.
But I have to give them props for this flipping beautiful (ugh, BEAUTIFUL) video they just released, “The Scarecrow.” It’s kinda a rage-gently-against-the-machine sort of thing, implying that the restaurant shuns products that are unethically produced or genetically or chemically modified.
From a marketing perspective, it’s brilliant because it’s not a traditional ad. Their target market, millenials, cannot stand traditional advertising and respond well to viral video. Anyone in professional food with that target market, take note.
It also doesn’t hurt that it’s set to a haunting remix of “Pure Imagination” from the best kid movie ever, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the 1970s original, mind you).
I have to say I don’t stress as much as maybe I should about all these concepts, but MAN. I’ve got to give them some serious props.
BONUS: Check out the scarecrow’s knife skills at the end! See? Knife skills save the world!
Update 9/20: Okay, a few days later we’ve all come off of the beauty of the piece and started to pull at its flaps of mild hypocrisy. Particularly notable is this parody video by Funny or Die:
Fabulous concepts. Ironic though that it is distributed by a nationwide chain which is, in essence, the same thing it purports to expose. Definitely makes you think. And no, I won’t be going to Chipotle either, making my dinner at home too. I’m too fond of real food.
It does beg the question: Do they use all humanely-raised meats? Organic, small-farm veggies? Maybe so, but I doubt it. Nearly impossible on that scale.
I can just see a press release titled “Monsanto Responds to ‘The Scarecrow.’” It works because it led me to check out: http://www.chipotle.com/en-us/fwi/fwi.aspx. But I am not downloading the Scarecrow game…
I seriously doubt it. They never respond to anything, from what I’ve seen. They’re so big that this sort of thing won’t make a dent.
And aww, come on, let’s download the app!
I actually wrote into the post about the game and the fact that it got poor reviews for crashing, and WordPress ate it. I got tired of retyping it.
This is a FANTASTIC video. I LOVED it. Well written…well animated?!?!? But I too was taken a back that a major chain produced this given I imagine they are lumped in with the other evil food giants. BUT, I did have someone tell me that Chipotle takes health and nutrition much more seriously…at least in where their foods are sourced. Clearly their portions are a bit much.
Did you see the link that Charlene (previous commenter) found about their “food values?” I have to wonder about meat, which is difficult to source locally. But looks like they at least try with produce. Thanks for commenting!