Arushi Khemka

Professor Jeffrey Bain-Conkin

WR 13300-04
February 25, 2015
Rhetorical Analysis
Chipotle Mexican Grill came out with a new commercial a year ago that won the critics
praise. The commercial, named The Scarecrow, launched a new mobile game that aims to
educate the public about food issues. Although its main aim seems to be, to increase loyalty for
the Chipotle brand and it does so effectively. The Scarecrow is an innovative piece of marketing;
it makes the consumer hate big chains while promoting another one, it changes our view of this
particular big chain. We now believe that Chipotle even though a large-scale restaurant is
different. It is doing so to make people feel less guilty about eating their meals and making them
understand that even though delicious, their meals are healthier than most other fast food chains.
One of the biggest reasons for this is that the commercial doesnt mention chipotle at all until
the very end and only for a brief moment too. This makes it seem as if, Chipotle instead of
advertising itself, was advertising and promoting or sponsoring organic farming. We believe that
it holds these values close to itself, because instead of slapping its own name everywhere it
gives the message of organic farming more importance.
The commercial makes it clear that Chipotle is against processed foods, oppression and
harsh confinement of animals and stereotypical big chain mentality. They want us to realize the
sheer injustice of injecting animals and crops with chemicals for their profit. It is an injustice not
only to the animals but also to us, the people who are eating this food, unaware of how unhealthy
it is for us. The video starts with the perfect farm scene painted of the walls of factory that claims

to wholesome but is in fact the epitome of evil food industries and factorymade meat
stereotypes. Mechanical crows run this factory named Crow Foods Incorporated, the
protagonist of the story, a scarecrow works there with many others of his kind. The scarecrow
goes about his work and sees a packet on a conveyor belt that says 100% Beef-ish The
scarecrow fixes a garage door that says All-Natural but inside he see that chickens are being
injected with chemicals to make them fatter, in a grungy dark room where you would never
imagine anything moral happening. In a similar way he sees cows trapped in pens stacked on top
of each other. This particular scene evokes emotion like no other; you can see the cows haunted
eyes and cant help but feel bad for it. The crows that run these operations are mechanized and
robot like with red glowing eyes and theres no mistaking that they are unfeeling creatures, a
metaphor for the big companies and businessmen that actually run these industries. The
scarecrows job is to hide the oppressions of its employer from the world and this makes him
increasingly miserable. On his way home, our protagonist sees Crow Foods advertise a happy
scarecrow enjoying his job at the farm on a billboard and the irony cannot be clearer as we see
the scarecrows depressed beady eyes.
We see Chiptoles dedication to sustainable farming and fresh foods. It shows that
Chipotle is starting a movement against factory-made food and explains its agenda and
motivation. The scarecrow, when he comes home blue is inspired by his little garden. His face
brightens and the music picks up as he picks vegetables, takes them into the city and starts his
own little store. He chops his organically farmed vegetables and cooks with joy that is clearly
seen in his face. As he serves his first bowl some customers leave the Crow Foods lines and
come to his shop. He scares off a crow that lands on his table and you get the feeling that slowly
the world is being restored to the way its supposed to be. The commercial ends with the words,

Cultivate a Better World leaving the message that even one person can make a difference and
start an effective movement no matter how powerful the enemy, just the way Chipotle has.
Chipotle also aims to show that these big industries and chains have no personalization in
their process, while on the contrary Chipotle does. Even though there are different shops for
different kinds of food in this fictional world of them are supplied by Crow Foods. These shops
are actually just conveyor belts that people pick their food off of and there is no contact between
the company and the customer. The customer is left completely in the dark about the kind of
people or in this case, crows that are supplying their food. In real life even though we might buy
our food from shops with employees we are still ignorant of the people that are in control the
companies, while the employees are mere scarecrows going about their job. At the end when
the scarecrow makes the entire meal himself from scratch and hands it to his customer fresh and
hot, we know that it is a wholesome and healthy meal. We see the personal touch of the
scarecrow and that is what Chipotle aims for in its own endeavors.
Finally the irony that a scarecrow is meant to scare off crows but is being controlled by
them shows that Chipotle wants us to know there is something wrong with the way thins are
being run right now. Crows are bad for farms, they harms the crops just like the chemicals and
pesticides that the companies use do. Yet we let them be in power and live in blissful ignorance
but it is our duty to change this, the way the scarecrow does. This is meant to inspire us not only
into trusting Chipotle but also being healthier ourselves. The soulful strains of Fiona Apple
singing Pure Imagination from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory only helps its cause
make us feel all the right emotions at exactly the right times.
The commercial ensures that you will no longer feel guilty about devouring a Chipotle
Burrito. It also ruins the image of other fast food chain that use processed meats, killing its

competition. It makes us feel the need for a change in life style and tells us how to do it, that is,
by running to the farmers market and maybe picking up a burrito on the way all the while hating
the big industries. There are some criticisms to the commercial as well, for example the fact that
the scarecrow is never shown cooking organic meat in his shop but only vegetables. This makes
us question whether the ad was promoting vegetarianism, which is something not particularly on
Chipotles agenda. In the end it cant be denied that the first reaction to the video is a good one
and one that lasts. Even though we might not believe that Chipotles food is as healthy as it gets,
we do believe that it is better than any of it competitors. We trust Chipotle to serve us nonfactory-farmed meat because we believe it cares as much about the issue as a concerned
consumer does. Hence it achieves its aim of establishing brand loyalty and gaining more
customers.