Chipotle has been hit by a national campaign featuring a grossly overweight young man and attacking the chain for high fat food. The ad tells readers that by eating two “all natural” Chipotle burritos a week, consumers could gain 40 pounds in a year. What is most notable however is the source for the campaign: an industry lobbyist named Richard Berman who appears miffed by the restaurant’s support of GMO-free, antibiotic-free food.
Berman is the head of public relations firm Berman & Co. and created the Center for Consumer Freedom to criticize efforts to limit high fat or unhealthy foods. The campaign includes the website Chubbychipotle.com. The CCF was formed in 1996 and reportedly criticizes such organizations as the Humane Society of the United States, and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
According to the Washington Post, the CCF lobbies on behalf of large food companies. The website states “”A growing cabal of activists has meddled in Americans’ lives in recent years . . . They include self-anointed ‘food police,’ health campaigners, trial lawyers, personal-finance do-gooders, animal-rights misanthropes, and meddling bureaucrats.”
That is not exactly what readers would assume to be the intent or message of this ad. Indeed, it appears that Berman lobbies on behalf of companies selling high-fat products. His opposition appears not to be the health impact of the food but the fact that Chipotle is supporting a national effort against GMO and non-organic food. Readers are equally left in the dark that “The Center for Consumer Freedom is supported by restaurants, food companies and thousands of individual consumers.” That information is available on its website.
Since the ad campaign has not been accused of false statements, a product disparagement case would likely not be successful. The ad does appear to over-simplify the issue and such weight gain will vary widely (hence the use of “may” in the critical line).
I am also a critic of CCF targets like Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s laws on sugary drinks. Moreover, the premise of the ad that Chipotle serves high caloric, high fat meals would seem unassailable. However, the campaign is less than honest given the opposition of CCF to limits on high-fat food and the financial support from competitors of Chipotle.
What do you think?
Jack … “Monsanto Loaf”…is that like “Soylent Green?” 😀
bam bam .. yep, I loves me some Jewish food cheese blintzes, or Polish cheese nalisnikis (sic?)…which, done right, are the same thing. However one serving is sufficient, and I usually take one or more home with me. I cannot imagine combining that whole order with another whole order of cheese & potato pirogies fried in bacon bits and onion bits….all with a large bowl of sour cream. 🙂 One or the other, but yee gawd not both at the same time. Yet I watched one stout chubby lady consume it all plus all the side dishes…barely could keep her mouth closed while eating.
My kid dragged me into Chipotle once and I was disgusted with all the rice and sour cream. That is fat food if you eat to much, no matter whether it has one additive or source or another.
Another hypocrite making the world safe for Monsanto: the epitome of evil, owners of the world seed repository, bullies in every country of the world. Too scared to label their products because they know people don’t want them and their cancer-causing Roundup. They’re propped up by our government, which appears to believe one day we’ll be in concentration camps with nothing to eat but Monsanto-loaf.
Aridog
Did someone say BLINTZES? Lol! 🙂
MSG Mono Sodium Glutamate is a naturally occurring substance in many foods that people eat daily, or often at least. MSG has been used in food for over a hundred years.
MSG has been used for more than 100 years to season food, with a number of studies conducted on its safety. Consumption and manufacture of high-salt and high-glutamate foods, which contain both sodium and glutamate, stretch back far longer, with evidence of cheese manufacture as early as 5,500 BC.[
It is not a danger, unless you in particular are allergic, or unless you eat massive quantities of it. Just like anything, over consumption can possibly be harmful.
According to the report, no data support the role of glutamate in chronic disease. A controlled, double-blind, multiple-location clinical trial failed to demonstrate a relationship between the MSG symptom complex and actual MSG consumption. No statistical association has been demonstrated, and the few responses were inconsistent. No symptoms were observed when MSG was administered with food
So, like those who are determined to be gluten intolerant and for which many studies have found no correlation between gluten and their symptoms, be they real or imaginary, MSG is also not generally harmful.
Are there some people who are sensitive to gluten, msg or will have allergic reactions to peanuts. Sure. That doesn’t mean that the rest of us who enjoy good food and umami should have to suffer because the rest of you are paranoid hypochondriacs 🙂
Ari, Having been to my share of Polish weddings, I am certain there were large amounts of vodka consumed as well as the carbo loading. Where I grew up, there were many Pollacks. Most of my grade school friends were Pollacks. The tradition was a big Polish breakfast w/ kielbasa, blood sausage, potato pancakes, vodka and beer. Then to the Wedding Mass. Then the reception w/ ample food, drink and Polka music. Polish weddings are really a combo of my heritage. The eat like Italians and drink like Irish.
InalienableWrights …don’t trying living in much of Asia for long…”Ajinomoto” is in everything.
Not surprised. Japan discovered the stuff to make it’s troops rations taste fit for human consumption. And poor people buy lower quality food that probably needs flavor enhancement.
There is a country and its government agency that is attacking Chipolte’s because it is not as GMO-free as it claims to be.
I think I may have a rant of a comment stuck in the filter?
I went to a birthday party last Saturday and I noticed the fatter people ate enormous amounts of food (equivalent to two meals+) regardless of contents. How does a double meal of a full plate of cheese nalisnikis (sic?…aka 3-4 fried blintzes) and a full plate of pirogies fried with bacon and onion bits, with all the side dishes sound to you? All Polish fare. I suggest “fat” is more a problem with volume than ingredients…with some exceptions for metabolic problems. Just my observation while I sat there (as did Judi) and ate small portions and took left overs home. Every one had a great time so there’s that. That said, I’d not want to share an elevator with any of the chow hounds the next morning 😀
Much obesity is due to addiction. The food manufactures put MSG (the law allows it to be hidden on the ingredients list) in everything – MSG not only causes rotten, food to taste good, and damage brain cells, it is very very addictive, and food manufactures know it.
Sugars have been shown to stimulate the same areas of the brain as cocaine, and are very addictive. Sugars stimulate the overgrowth of candida in the gut and believe it or not they release chemicals that cause the brain to crave sugar.(the food of candida)
If one really wants to dig — read Brave New World Revisited, on his death bed Huxley admitted that the book was non-fiction and that the elites are controlling us by chemicals in our environment, our food,the air, and the water….
It’s ridiculous. Eating only 2 chipotle burritos a week will not make you fat. In fact, if that’s all you ate, you’d probably starve to death.
TinEar-
Try non-fat greek yogurt to replace sour cream. They taste very much the same.
Anything that scientists advise, low-information folks will argue for the opposite because it makes them feel as if they are as smart as the scientists.
Chipotle should simply respond with more information. I read in a nutrition bulletin that Chipotle serves healthy food, but by opting for a burrito bowl instead of a burrito, that one could cut the fat and calories nearly in half. I was surprised that so much of the fat and calories were in the flour tortilla. And of course, skipping the sour cream would help, haha. I don’t think this will hurt Chipotle, so long as the chain is transparent about helping customers make the right nutritional choices for their particular caloric needs. I don’t resent restaurants that serve high calorie foods, I only resent companies that are sneaky about what they are selling, such as labeling something as low-fat or healthy when it is not.
I commend Chipotle for shaking up the market, so to speak, and creating an environment where fast food chains must take steps to keep in line with providing antibiotic-free food and GMO-free products. Good for them. I remember reading about Subway removing an ingredient from their bread which was also used in the production of yoga mats. Yep. Yoga mats. So, obviously, Chipotle has served as an impetus for positive change in this push for more natural ingredients. A totally separate issue, however, is the caloric value and the fat content of its items.
This has the potential to backfire on them.
I agree with Nick and comprehend little from the article. I will also say this: too many fat people in the photos on the blog this week.
I support Chipotle’s for wanting to serve healthy food to their customers. They should not be smeared for their efforts. And we need GMO labels. Europe has them. And we should too.
Such disinfo on all fronts. I would hope that people were smart enough to know that they need the healthy fats (the omega 3’s and 6’s) that they are both essential nutrients which means that you die without them. They are also a way to get the fat soluble vitamins A,D,E,&K
The obesity crisis is largely fueled by people on “low fat” diets that substitute sugary foods that jack their insulin levels….a fat storage hormone.
I think this is a poorly written post. What’s up??