Skip to main content

Chipotle's 300 Calorie Chorizo Burrito


Call it fate, call it karma or just bad luck but Chipotle, a U.S. Tex-Mex restaurant has had a bit of bad time recently when it's come to publicity. First it was an E. Coli scare that shut down many of their restaurants and was a twist of irony due to their reputation for selling meat from socially responsible free range animals. Now there's this, a 300 calorie Chorizo burrito that no one in their right minds would a) buy on a diet, and b) believe the hype.

Where in the marketing process did this get approved? Did they forget the decimal? Did they ask Jared Fogle? I can't believe they meant 3000 calories (which is more likely the case) and you can't tell me that this made it all the way up the chain of command, was approved, and then rolled out to countless stores without someone suggesting that this is one the most idiotic advertising blunders in the history of meat wrapped in flat-bread?

Now customers in Los Angeles are filing a class action lawsuit against  Chipotle over the false advertising of the nutritional information. Chipotle's only response...
"I'm sorry for the confusion, but we'll make things more clear next time. The 300 calories is for the chorizo [alone]."
That didn't feel like much of an apology to me. It certainly lacks empathy and doesn't explain where in the process this all went wrong. We're talking chorizo people, Mexican sausage. That's a little bit of meat, a lot of mystery by-products, ground with a ton of fat. It doesn't even remotely say "I'm a health food". If I'm ordering a chorizo burrito then I've likely just got off the phone with the insurance company because I've burnt down the house by running my car through the living room, because my dog died and I broke up with my partner or they announce an asteroid is heading for Earth. Wait, no that's a hyperbole. The truth is if I want a burrito, I'll eat one and I want accurate nutritional information to decide if it fits into my dietary needs or if I need to wear my stretchy pants to the office tomorrow. See the difference? Chipotle might like us to believe it's "confusion" because they've stretched the definition of health by listing only the chorizo meat for 300 calories, but what they've really done is broken the trust with consumers with their lack transparency and integrity that a corporation, supposedly based on social responsibility, is supposed to have.

...And that's what gives public relations a bad name: lying (or manipulation). I hate it. No doubt, many companies have had less than honest intentions in marketing in the past but look at them now? Look at Volkswagen in their emissions scandal or the cigarette Goliaths of thirty years ago.  In my opinion, a product (or service) should sell itself, and the role of marketing and public relations is to ensure the transparent exchange of communication to inform and educate consumers while building brand integrity. Sure you can play dirty with your pr, but everything happens for a reason and you better be prepared for the risks of karma when you have a three pound burrito in your hand and the elevator cable snaps.

Popular posts from this blog

Stranded by Uber's dysfunctional customer service

I was getting ready for my trip to India and my friend recommended that I download a couple apps for our trip, including Ola (a local Bangalore taxi company) and Uber. No worries, I thought. I was one step ahead of her having downloaded Uber for when in New York, as we were spending a few days there. I was quite excited to use the app considering the fact that there was a $20 credit sign-up bonus promotion going on. It seemed as though everything was falling into place as I was ready for our big adventure. I didn't bother with Lyft or the other competitors, knowing I had the Uber app on my phone and assuming since it's 2017, and a very popular option, it's going to work great. This as it turned out, would be a huge mistake that resulted in us taking the public bus at the airport.

What happened? Well, the first time I used the app, it immediately banned me. Thankfully, Bangalore has thousands of rickshaws that got me to and from our destinations. Had I downloaded Ola ahead …

Food Lion: Saying One Thing and Doing Another

Something strange is going on, something's wrong at my local grocer store, a Food Lion. The deli and bakery are missing. Rumors are flying around town as to what's happening. Did the snow storm crush the roof? Is it water damage or is there something more mysterious? As it happens, it's nothing more than continued renovations of the store... but no one told the customers.

In a world of communications where transparency is often the only thing holding your reputation together, not telling the customers anything seems like a little bit of deception. More importantly, why not tell the customers of your super cool improvements coming their way? Before the local townspeople crack completely at their inability to purchase their sliced bologna, I have to wonder if this is poor public relations or something more.

Food Lion is selling it to the media in larger markets (where curious journalists have reached out to the company's media relations) as:
The remodels are part of Foo…

Guerrilla Marketing in a Millennial World

Millennials are all about digital media. Companies are clamoring for their piece of the pie on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. However, sometimes what you need is a little bit of guerrilla marketing. Now, not every PR-pro has the grit or the intuition for this sort of thinking outside the box, but I believe those who do have a distinct advantage to their counterparts who only work in the digital or traditional medium.

Some of the best campaigns have been grassroots movements that utilize traffic patterns or public spaces to advertise their message. Some of the first of these clever campaigns simply used bed sheets hung at dawn on overpasses to catch the L.A. traffic rush that often sees hundreds of thousands of commuters.

A few years ago, I served as editor and chief on a local forum that used guerrilla marketing techniques to reach our audience. One of these techniques was borrowed from a hobby called Car Casting whereby you basically created a tiny pirate radio station. It involve…