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© History Oasis
Chipotle broke the fast food mold. No clown. No king. No permanent fast food mascot at all.
Instead, the brand has built temporary characters inside story-driven campaigns about sustainable farming and ethical food. Each character appeared, served its purpose, then vanished.
Here's every character Chipotle created since 2011.
2011
The "Back to the Start" ad/short-film told the story of a small farmer who expanded into industrial farming. The stop-motion film showed him running factory farms with confined animals and automated systems. Eventually, he rejected it all and returned to sustainable methods.
Johnny Kelly directed the piece at Nexus Studios. Willie Nelson sang Coldplay's "The Scientist" as the soundtrack. The film aired during the 2012 GRAMMY Awards as Chipotle's first national TV ad since 1993. It hit 4.5 million YouTube views by February 2012.
2013
This character was a scarecrow that worked at Crow Foods, a dystopian factory. He saw animals in dark pens and processed food on assembly lines. He broke away to grow fresh ingredients and serve real food.
Moonbot Studios animated the film. Fiona Apple sang "Pure Imagination" from Willy Wonka. The campaign launched on September 11, 2013, and won two Daytime Emmy Awards.
The video reached 8 million views. Five million came in the first two weeks.
Chipotle paired the film with a mobile game. Players moved animals to open pastures and served wholesome food to citizens. The game hit number one on iTunes and sparked 18.4 million conversations across 17 social platforms.
Chipotle originally hired Frank Ocean to perform the jingle. He asked out after the brand refused to remove its logo from the spot. Chipotle sued him for the $212,500 advance. Ocean paid it back in full, and the lawsuit was dismissed.
2014
An activist and organic farmer fought corporate agribusiness in "Farmed and Dangerous," a four-part satirical series on Hulu. Ray Wise played Chip.
The series premiered on February 17, 2014. Chipotle spent over $1 million producing it. The brand name appeared just once across four 22-minute episodes.
2014
The villain in "Farmed and Dangerous" worked for the Industrial Food Image Bureau. Eric Pierpoint played Buck, who defended industrial farming practices. The series satirized a fictional company called Animoil and their petroleum-based animal feed, PetroPellet.
2015
Two unnamed characters fell in love in "A Love Story." Passion Pictures created the animation, directed by Saschka Unseld. Brittany Howard and Jim James sang a duet of the Backstreet Boys' "I Want it That Way." The romance unfolded against themes of sustainable food.
2017
A cheerful tortilla "rapping" caricature promoted Chipotle's preservative-free tortillas. The character looked eco-friendly and was supposedly made of recycled materials. Chipotle used it briefly for a music video, then dropped it. The tortilla never became a marketing fixture.
2021
Chipotle created four digital costumes for its virtual restaurant: Chip Bag Ghost, Burrito Mummy, Spicy Devil, and Guacenstein. Players dressed their avatars in these outfits during the 21st annual Boorito Halloween event on October 28, 2021.
Chipotle became the first restaurant brand to open a location on Roblox. The experience drew over 8 million visits and 3.5 million unique plays. It generated 4.6+ billion PR impressions and became the restaurant's biggest digital sales day ever.
A false rumor blamed the Roblox experience for a platform-wide outage. The game's approval rating dropped from 81.0% to 60.6%. Roblox confirmed no single experience caused the crash.
2021
Observatory created "A Future Begins" as a sequel to "Back to the Start." The stop-motion film followed a farming family reviving their land through sustainable practices. The story was based on a real Chipotle farmer.
Kacey Musgraves reimagined Coldplay's "Fix You" for the soundtrack. The film launched on November 16, 2021.
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