With the advent of the heart-wrenching scarecrow commercial that was released earlier this month, Chipolte has made the United States aware of its commitment to finding farms that are sustainable and do not mistreat their animals. The commercial shows a scarecrow go to work at a factory farm. The scarecrow faces tear-jerking moral dilemmas as he watches chickens injected with hormones swell up and cows held in boxes, unable to move. The scarecrow leaves the farm to start his own, where he treats the animals with compassion and grows vegetables more naturally. The commercial ends with the scarecrow assembling a chipolte burrito from his fresh ingredients.
Starting a Trend?
Chipolte has been straight forward with the fact that they have not eliminated GMO foods from their ingredient list just yet, however they are focused on eliminating GMO foods. They vow to increase their use of foods from local farms that have high standards for sustainablity.
This has won Chipolte big points in the advertising world, as the general public concern and awareness has increased dramatically over the past year about genetically modified vegetables and hormone treated animals. Could this be the first step in a new trend? We can only hope, as studies continue to find links between hormone usage in farm animals, and cancer development in those that use these animal products. Pesticide usage and genetically modified vegetables have also shown links to cancer and other diseases in studies. Many countries have banned the use of these means to increase production by farms. Will other restaurants follow Chipolte’s lead?