A full-page ad ran in the New York Post last week highlighting the Center for Consumer Freedom‘s Chubby Chipotle campaign. The ad exposes Chipotle’s “healthy” burritos as 1,500 calorie meals. The ad also points out that in addition to their Burrito Disguise, Chipotle is also facing a class-action lawsuit for alleged violation of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.
“Chipotle promotes a local farm profile and is critical of big processing food suppliers, but its food is processed in large factories and the company shares a distribution chain with McDonald’s and Taco Bell,” Will Coggin, director of research at the Center for Consumer Freedom, said. “Chipotle’s marketing spins a false narrative that its food is healthier and more ethical, but consumers should know Chipotle is pretending to be something it isn’t, and deceiving them in order to sell 1,500-calorie burritos.”
Recently Chipotle ran a new advertising campaign, announcing that their food is free of GMOs. This claim is untrue of the soda served in the restaurant as well as the meat, which comes from livestock fed GMOs up to the day they are processed for food. Additionally, Chipotle claims their meat is from animals that are antibiotic free. This policy has recently seen a sift as well, with the company allowing a new European supplier to treat sick animals– although the change has never been advertised. Hormones are yet another hot topic, with Chipotle advertising beef as free of added hormones, even though beef is naturally low in hormones with lower rates than pinto beans and tofu.
“There’s no problem with genetically modified foods or hormones present in foods (according to scientists), or giving antibiotics to animals to keep them healthy,” reports the Center for Consumer Freedom. “But there is a problem with Chipotle pretending to be something it isn’t and deceiving consumers in order to sell its high-calorie burritos.”
The ad is the third in a highly successful campaign that has been covered by CBS This Morning, Washington Post, Reuters, New York Post and the Daily Mail. The previous Chubby Chipotle ads can be found here.