Chipotle is the target of a brutal new attack ad
Chipotle is the target of a brutal new attack ad.
It accuses Chipotle of deceptively marketing high-calorie foods as healthy.
The ad features an shirtless obese man and this message: "Eat two 'all natural' Chipotle burritos a week and you could gain 40 pounds in a year."
Most Chipotle burritos with a protein, rice, beans, cheese, and guacamole are about 1,000 calories, based on information from the chain's website.
That's about half of the recommended daily calorie intake for an adult.
The ad, which directs people to the website ChubbyChipotle.com, was printed as a full page in the New York Post on Thursday.
The Chubby Chipotle site goes beyond the deceptive marketing claims and takes aim at Chipotle's commitment to antibiotic-free meat, saying it's unhealthy for animals because these medicines are used to treat sick animals.
The website slams Chipotle for dropping genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, because they are widely recognized as safe.
The ad and website are part of a campaign funded by the Center for Consumer Freedom, a nonprofit based in Washington, DC, that lobbies for food companies.
"Chipotle claims to be ethical but its 'Food with Integrity' marketing doesn't have any filling. It's an empty ploy that is highly unscientific and harms animal welfare," Will Coggin, director of research at the Center for Consumer Freedom, said in a statement. "Considering how Chipotle ignores scientists and experts, 'Food with Hypocrisy' would be more honest slogan."
Chipotle spokesman Chris Arnold called the ad a smear campaign.
"This whole thing is a ridiculous smear campaign based on inaccurate representations of our positions and orchestrated by the Center for Consumer Freedom on behalf of its unknown supporters," Arnold said. "We have always been very transparent in the way we run our business and in the challenges we face."
Chipotle's commitment to fresh ingredients and the ethical treatment of animals has helped it achieve massive success over the past two decades. But the chain has hit bumps along the way.
Chipotle had to stop serving pork at hundreds of restaurants this year after discovering that one of its suppliers was violating its animal-treatment standards.
The chain has had to serve "conventionally raised" steak (from cattle raised with antibiotics and hormones) in some markets to meet demand.
Arnold says there's nothing deceiving about Chipotle's marketing
"Chipotle has done more to influence positive change in the nation's food system than any other restaurant company, and the claims we make about our business are honest, transparent and entirely defensible," he said. "The desperate and misdirected attacks from the less-than-forthcoming Center for Consumer Freedom won't change that."
The Washington Post points out that the Center for Consumer Freedom was founded by Rick Berman, a lobbyist who was "famous for arguing on behalf of big food companies and against big health initiatives."
When The Post asked Coggins about CCF's funding for the anti-Chipotle campaign, Coggins said no company or groups of companies are behind it.
"It's just a project of ours," he told The Post.