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RedditAll this week, Chipotle is seizing on the opportunity to promote its brand by sponsoring country-wide free screenings of the great new documentary Food, Inc..
There's just one problem here: Food, Inc.'s director, Robert Kenner, and co-producer, Eric Schlosser have been outspoken critics of Chipotle's exploitive production practices and just last month joined more than two dozen food justice leaders in signing a sharply-worded letter of protest to company CEO Steve Ells just last month.
Chipotle, the country's fastest-growing fast food chain, has resisted efforts by farm-workers demanding a lasting commitment to ending the brutal exploitation in Florida's fields. As the letter says, in part:
"We realize that Chipotle has announced that it's paying an extra penny per pound for tomatoes, but we have to ask: What has Chipotle done since that announcement to identify and cultivate growers who are willing to raise their labor standards and pass the penny along to their workers? Your company has shown admirable leadership in working with – and incubating – meat suppliers willing to meet your higher standards. But your failure to do that same hard work in the Florida tomato industry – together with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) – threatens to render your announcement an empty gesture aimed more at public relations damage control than an effort to make real change."
Chipotle has been able to successfully promote its "Food with Integrity" brand, and the company does adhere to sustainable practices when it comes to sourcing its meat -- that's why it got props in the film. But its regard for animals and the environment makes its lack of concern for the farmworkers who pick its produce even more glaring.
Lately, Chipotle has been coming under increasing fire from social-justice activists and the underwriting of Food, Inc. seems a smart and calculated PR maneuver to burnish the company's image at a time when it's receiving increasing criticism for its intransigence in joining Burger King, Taco-Bell and others in committing to ending the brutal exploitation in Florida's fields..
Whether the film's producers should have accepted the sponsorship, to me, a very debatable point. If, as I understand, the underwriting, allowed many more people to see the film than would have otherwise, then that's a good thing, especially if the CIW can effectively call out the hypocrisy. In theaters across the country, Campaign for Fair Food allies are rallying, demanding Chipotle show farmworkers the same respect they show small farmers and stop stiff-arming the CIW.
You can support the call for real change on the part of Chipotle by adding your name to the letter to CEO Steve Ells demanding an end to the human rights crisis in Florida's tomato fields.
PS: If you have extra time on your hands and want to follow me on Twitter -- a micro-blog -- click here. You'll find (slightly) more personal posts, basketball and breaking news and lots of links.
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Peter Rothberg
Your guide to expressing informed dissent to war, racism, sexism, environmental degradation and market-based solutions to social problems.
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PETER: "Food, Inc.'s director, Robert Kenner, and co-producer, Eric Schlosser....."We realize that Chipotle has announced that it's paying an extra penny per pound for tomatoes, but we have to ask: What has Chipotle done since that announcement to identify and cultivate growers who are willing to raise their labor standards and pass the penny along to their workers?""
If Chipotle has not asked its FL tomato vendor(s) to provide, on their invoices, vouching for having paid "an extra penny per pound for tomatoes", then they have committed a grave sin.
The vendors need to do the "hard work" of adding the necessary language into their invoice template(s). One or a handful of phone calls from Chipotle ought to do it!
Posted by Happy at 07/15/2009 @ 6:15pm
my god!
happy's becoming semi-human.
••
a better idea:
don't eat fast food.
••
i wonder if the chilpotles (smoked jalapeños) are organic. pepper cultivation is VERY toxic. i wonder if they used liquid smoke.
••
a better idea:
cook at home.
Posted by frosty zoom at 07/15/2009 @ 7:55pm
A toast to correcting the American food system, one step at a time.
Posted by syfriendly at 07/15/2009 @ 8:20pm
some pollution in your body is good for your immune system. relax you know-it-all do-gooders.
Posted by urmygyro at 07/15/2009 @ 8:38pm
gooooood tacos.
Posted by twillie at 07/15/2009 @ 8:42pm
But, I order them without tomatoes. So I'm covered, right?
Posted by twillie at 07/15/2009 @ 8:43pm
my god!
happy's becoming semi-human.
Posted by frosty zoom at 07/15/2009 @ 7:55pm
Yeah.....I have been trying to semi-human since my semi-hippie days. Glad I got rid of the evil liberal part of me, thanks in part, to Jimmy Carter & Ms. Rand!
Posted by Happy at 07/15/2009 @ 10:23pm
Chipotle will be no problem, the Obamanation that makes desolation and the Demoncrats are putting them and others out of business soon with their $540,000,000,000. tax increase to Pre-Reagan tax levels!
Posted by BigPasture at 07/15/2009 @ 10:37pm
"Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) has insisted the Senate will deal with immigration and health reform separately. And Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D., Mont.) told the Dallas Morning News in May, "We're not going to cover undocumented aliens, undocumented workers. That's too politically explosive."
But it's hard to envision how health reform can avoid tripping the immigration booby trap. Approximately 15–22 percent of the 46 million residents of the United States without health coverage are illegal aliens. That's about 9 or 10 million people. More generally, a third of the foreign-born are uninsured, Census data analyzed by the Center for Immigration Studies show. That means something like 12.6 million people, or more than a fourth of the total uninsured, are immigrants, both legal and illegal. Since 1989, immigration is responsible for 71 percent of the rise in those without health insurance. The fact is, the problem of the uninsured would be a more manageable one if the U.S. were not admitting millions of uninsured immigrants."
I guess with 10% unemployment and 9,000,000 out of work on jobs that will NOT return all that is left is to get rid of the businesses producing jobs and that will eliminate the immigration problem also?!
Posted by BigPasture at 07/15/2009 @ 10:44pm
A toast to correcting the American food system, one step at a time.
Posted by syfriendly at 07/15/2009 @ 8:20pm
like grandma used to.
Posted by frosty zoom at 07/15/2009 @ 11:18pm
some pollution in your body is good for your immune system. relax you know-it-all do-gooders.
Posted by urmygyro at 07/15/2009 @ 8:38pm
good for the soul, to be sure.
choose carefully, nonetheless.
Posted by frosty zoom at 07/15/2009 @ 11:19pm
days. Glad I got rid of the evil liberal part of me, thanks in part, to Jimmy Carter & Ms. Rand!
Posted by Happy at 07/15/2009 @ 10:23pm | ignore this person | warn this perso
antinomian to the core!
hail satan!!!
Posted by dexter666 at 07/15/2009 @ 11:35pm
I see the con-troll-ers are as moronic here as they are on all the other blogs. They're missing a left brain.
Posted by gamphd at 07/15/2009 @ 11:53pm
Jimmy Carter & Ms. Rand!
Posted by Happy at 07/15/2009 @ 10:23pm
jimmy, a true american hero.
ayn was was russian.
heheh
Posted by frosty zoom at 07/16/2009 @ 12:15am
Pre-Reagan tax levels!
Posted by BigPasture at 07/15/2009 @ 10:37pm
reagan doubled national debt.
AND greatly increased the federal bureaucracy.
Posted by frosty zoom at 07/16/2009 @ 12:17am
I think there's something wrong with the end of this sentence:
"Lately, Chipotle has been coming under increasing fire from social-justice activists and the underwriting of Food, Inc. seems a smart and calculated PR maneuver to burnish the company's image at a time when it's receiving increasing criticism for its intransigence in joining Burger King, Taco-Bell and others in committing to ending the brutal exploitation in Florida's fields.."
It's supposed to say the opposite, right?
Posted by nitcollector at 07/16/2009 @ 01:19am
>>yAWN<<
Posted by CHIP THORNTON at 07/16/2009 @ 08:49am
ZZZZzz..........
I am hungry...and I am going to Chipolte to show my support for the 1 penny a pound increase...
I recommend Barbacoa...no tomatoes, unless you ask for mild sauce....
but they are delicious, mostly organic and cheap.
...I hope Chipolte makes more money...the public rewards a great value with their business...if the product is bad or detrimental the public will punish them by not patronizing them...I am sure Obamas peoples committees have noticed they are a profitable business and are at this moment planning to steal,er, tax them to be fair...for health care, of course...
Posted by YourJomamma at 07/16/2009 @ 12:41pm
if the product is bad or detrimental the public will punish them by not patronizing them... . Posted by YourJomamma at 07/16/2009 @ 12:41pm
are you sure about that?
Posted by frosty zoom at 07/16/2009 @ 1:57pm
if the product is bad or detrimental the public will punish them by not patronizing them... . Posted by YourJomamma at 07/16/2009 @ 12:41pm
are you sure about that?
Posted by frosty zoom at 07/16/2009 @ 1:57pm
JM is right. Restaurants live and die by their word of mouth reputation.
Posted by antisocialist at 07/16/2009 @ 2:08pm
mcdonald's, burger king, taco bell, dairy queen.....
Posted by frosty zoom at 07/16/2009 @ 2:29pm
Posted by frosty zoom at 07/16/2009 @ 2:29pm |
I'd add the rest, but 1800 chars doesn't allow for the full list of crap restaurants that ignorant fatties frequent.
We can't even get a majority of the country to get off their keisters and vote, much less pull their SUVs out of the drive-thru [sic], cook a meal for themselves, and engage in meaningful protest.
Posted by snowball777 at 07/16/2009 @ 4:07pm
Nothing wrong with occasional Mcds, BK, Taco hell, and DQ. (Well, maybe BK) unless, of course, you're opposed to them because they're big corporations and thus synonymous with evil to the Left.
Posted by twillie at 07/16/2009 @ 6:55pm
(Well, maybe BK) unless, of course, you're opposed to them because they're big corporations and thus synonymous with evil to the Left.
Posted by twillie at 07/16/2009 @ 6:55pm
well, you do subsidize them, so "enjoy".
Posted by frosty zoom at 07/16/2009 @ 8:23pm
What kind of "props" were given to Chipotle in the film? Movie props? Propellers? Neither seems to make much sense.
Posted by mrpoizun at 07/17/2009 @ 1:11pm
More debt was run up by two republicon presidents than all the other presidents combined-Reagan and George Bush. They should be vilified in all history texts and their names removed from All federal buildings, ships, and highways, etc. May God have some mercy on them for I condemn them forever.
Posted by SteppingRazor at 07/18/2009 @ 3:42pm
....I condemn them forever.
Posted by SteppingRazor at 07/18/2009 @ 3:42pm
That's not very long....in 3.5 years, your Messiah will take over, all by his lonesome self, too!
Posted by Happy at 07/18/2009 @ 4:51pm
O.K., so I signed the letter (and probably got myself on one more email list and donations solicitation list). But let's make one thing clear -- Chipotle is not just another lousy fast food chain. I'm fussy about taste and nutrition, and it's one of the few restaurants of any kind that meets my standards and those of my vegan husband. So let's all sign the letter and help the company get on track, so that those of us who love their guacamole can eat it without guilt.
Theo
Posted by mcousineau at 07/18/2009 @ 5:02pm