Intern Sweatshop: I'll Take a Fajita Burrito with a Side of Social Responsibility

It was cold, and it was dark, and we were standing outside...wrapping each other in tinfoil for free burritos. On Halloween, Chipotle Mexican Grill does their "Boorito" promotion. If you come in on October 31, dressed as a burrito, you get a free, well, burrito! My friends and I have participated for years. The costumes range from elaborate tinfoil suits to simple tinfoil bracelets. This year, however, Chipotle is mixing it up a bit.

For Boorito 2010, instead of coming dressed as a burrito (wearing varying amounts of tinfoil), Chipotle is asking people to come dressed as a "horrifying processed food product." When you come dressed as a "horrifying processed food product," you can get a burrito for a discounted price of $2. Chipotle has promised to donate up to one million dollars from the Halloween proceeds to Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.

Chipotle has taken what was a playful promotion and upped the ante considerably. Though honorable, is this really a good move marketing-wise?

Jamie Oliver is a celebrity chef and health food advocate who is dedicated to helping people eat healthier. His Food Revolution is aimed at changing how Americans eat (you mean a box of Twinkies a night is bad for me?). A big part of Chipotle's identity is that all their ingredients are naturally raised and never processed, so it makes sense that they would team with Jamie to help raise awareness about processed vs. organic food.

Chipotle is one of the largest food chains in the country to be fully dedicated to organic ingredients. I will venture so far as to say that Chipotle could be a case study on how to operate a large, organically focused food chain. With Boorito 2010, they are going the extra step, advocating for a cause they believe in. It shows them as socially conscious and willing to sacrifice for it.

The fast food industry is continuing to get knocked over health concerns, so Chipotle's fresh, caring image is something they are wise to play up. This promotion with Jamie Oliver has the potential to build extra awareness about Chipotle's practices concerning their delicious food and hopefully bring in new customers to eat said food. Continuing to get their name associated with health food causes is a big step toward this.

However, Chipotle could catch some backlash from consumers over the change.

The problem is, despite it being for a good cause, a lot of people will be upset that the burritos are no longer free and that the costume requirements have gotten more demanding. People can no longer put some tin foil on their head and get free food. A few of my friends didn't even know about Jamie Oliver's involvement or the donation. All they had heard, via word-of-mouth, was that what was once free was now $2.

Chipotle is going to have to work hard to make sure people get the full story. They have sent out mailers, made a Youtube video with Jamie (see the bottom of this post), and put up a page on their Facebook, all of it explaining the Boorito 2010 promotion. The social media push was an especially good idea because most of previous years' Boorito participants have been us millennials. It’s a good outreach, but come this year’s Allhallows Eve, we’ll see how well it worked.

I think this promotion is a smart move. They took a promotion that was essentially bringing them nothing besides tinfoil to clean up, and turned it into something that could move their whole brand forward in consumer’s minds. There is the risk that some people won’t come out this year because of the price, but overall, the potential gains vastly outweigh the potential backlash. I’ll be there and I plan on dressing as some good ol’ high-fructose corn syrup! No, I haven’t thought through the logistics of that yet.


-- Kyle Sacks, High-Fructose Corn Syrup

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Friday Ad Haiku: Promotions and Giveaways

by Alicia Taft

Baseball is back! This year, I was lucky enough to enjoy my first Baltimore Orioles Opening Day. In addition to perks like watching the O's beat the Evil Empire and participating in Mark Teixeira's first game of Baltimore boos, I received an Orioles magnetic schedule, car magnet, and a scratch off ticket worth $3 (a third of a beer!).

Promo nights rule. April 10th was Fleece Scarf Night at Camden Yards, and you know those first 10,000 fans 15 and over are going to cherish that free piece of fleece, even if it's not exactly seasonally relevant (but then again, they might not get 10,000 fans 15 and over in chilly September, when the Orioles are usually continuing their painful fall down the basement steps*).

Ad Agency Confessional's own Matt McDermott was lucky enough to score this promo gem.


It's like the "but wait, there's more" of the baseball world, and the more could be a complimentary set of six official MLB toothpicks for all I care. It's something extra. More bang for my buck.

I unfortunately missed my opportunity to score the scarf, so I started poking around the Internet for some other baseball giveaways. A list of the most interesting promos of the 2008 MLB season includes fake soul patches and--yes--more cowbell. And 2009 MLB promos include Jayson Werth blankets for the ladies (sponsored by Motrin) and sandbox sets.

Pop some Motrin and snuggle with Jayson

But over the past few years, Minor League Baseball has really stolen the show. In addition to the typical t-shirt, magnet, bobblehead and hat freebies, some teams have come up with promotions that raise an eyebrow, like an eighteen-and-a-half minute Watergate moments of silence, an entire five innings of silence, paying customers to park, sheets of cork, and Turkish lira. Not to mention one team's "Van Down by the River" Night for this season.

These off-the-wall strategies can even pique the interest of non-fans, and perhaps turn them into regulars. Make them come for the promotion, but stay for the game--and maybe even keep coming back. Maybe you're not the head of marketing for a sports team. But if you're looking to drive in customers, maybe it's not so bad to step out of the batter's box every once in a while and try something out of left field. Yes, I am clever. Thanks for noticing.

So, bringing it back to the Friday Ad Haiku, today's topic is Promotions and Giveaways.

Glow-in-the-dark fan?
Of course I'll take one of those.
Just because it's free.

*I am merely pointing out trends of seasons past. I still have hope that my beloved team will surprise me this year. Why not, right?

Previously in the Friday 5-7-5: Eating FREE at the agency

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One Put Off Ranga

This article from the Daily Mail is almost two weeks old. I’ve been wanting to weigh in on it for a while, but you know “work” and all. Anyway, in order to highlight the plight of endangered orangutans (animals that often have reddish-orange hair) the Adelaide Zoo, located in South Australia, began an advertising promotion offering free admissions to “rangas”—people with red hair. According to multiple sources, red hair occurs in no more than 2% of the population. So, human redheads are an endangered species too. I wish someone would’ve told that to Tom ______n, who made it a habit of torturing me throughout all of middle school. Um, endangered species, TOM! That’s right, now either let me in the locker room or give me back my pants.

But what a great idea! Think of the plight we redheads have. We stand out in every crowd. Mild exposure to sunlight results in pain in a matter of hours. Redheads have a higher incidence of skin cancer. How many redheaded role models can you name? Fergi, Vicki Lawrence, Ronald McDonald, Carrot Top, that guy who posted for the Ad Agency Confessional who just checked himself into a mental hospital for severe clinical depression. And red hair is a direct result of an overabundance of the compound, pheomelanin. Yup, every redhead has some sort of chemical imbalance. Can that be true? you ask. Well, think of every redhead you know. Is there a single one that would make you say, Oh, yeah, Terry, he’s pretty normal? I didn’t think so. But a chemical imbalance, that explains everything.

I digress, I have red hair, which makes me a ranga + I like free stuff = AWESOME ZOO CAMPAIGN! But wait, ranga is not always considered a term of endearment among Australians. It’s not quite the slur that “ginger” is among Brittons, but not every Australian ranga embraces the nickname. So, of course, there was quickly an outcry among rangas that the campaign (which would have also included pictures of ranga patrons with orangutans) was offensive and they wanted it pulled.
And congratulations, idiots, you won! The campaign was pulled, forcing excited redheaded families to pay full price for zoo admission and denying redheads more exposure in a national ad campaign.

One redheaded moron was quoted as saying, “'There is absolutely no way in the world that I am going to be photographed with a red-haired monkey…You can just see jokers looking at the pictures and asking ‘which one is the ape?’” First off, what part of orangutan didn’t she understand? She calls them the wrong hominid twice in one sentence. Maybe the orangutan was thinking, Thank god, I won’t have to take a picture with that stupid gorilla—I mean human. But the point of the campaign was to draw attention to the plight of a freakin’ endangered animal. Is the lesson to be learned, Screw endangered animals, because I don’t want to be made fun of? Will the lazy and podiatricly deformed fight efforts to save the three-toed sloth? Do fat swimmers shout down efforts to Save the Whales.

Just because you’re ugly and apelike, and animals make you self-conscious, don’t ruin it for the rest of us! Sure, I could lose some weight, but you don’t see me getting all uppity when the Szechuan Taste offers free dining for a year to anyone who can eat their weight in crab rangoon. Hell no! I pull a chair up to that buffet table and warn people to watch their fingers and toes, lest I mistake one for an appetizer and inhale a digit or two along with piles of tasty fried cheese and imitation crabmeat goodness. (Okay, none of that happened at Szechuan Taste, but a boy can dream, can't he?)

In the end, Adelaide Zoo dropped the campaign, but still gave free admission to redheads, even if they weren’t natural redheads. So, despite the outcry from the peanut-brained, crimson-headed gallery, the zoo still made good on their promise, and even tried to draw more people into the redheaded fold. Next time, I imagine they’ll rethink any similar promotions, and so will any other venues looking to hook redheads up with free swag. Sorry guys, you did this to yourselves. Sadly, those probably hurt most by my chemically imbalanced brethren are endangered animals. Of course, the rangas probably won’t notice while they’re celebrating over some white tiger steaks and condor eggs. Nice work, jerks.

As far as advertising goes, the lessons learned, 1) people will complain about almost anything, even when they're the ones making out in the deal. 2) If you’re embarking on an advertising campaign that isn’t 100% politically correct, be prepared for some blowback. And when there is some blowback, shine a UV light in the face of those whiney gingers and watch them scatter like red cockroaches across the floor of a Lower East Side basement apartment. I can understand not wanting to stir up a commotion. There’s no shame in that, and for most businesses, that’s what makes the most sense. But if you’re gonna go for it, go for it. Stick by your guns and let the touchy complainers be damned. When you do, those who liked your idea in the first place will like you even more. And that's how you build some serious brand loyalty.

I'm spent.

--Captain Awesome, Copywriter...Ranga

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