Chipotle Mexican Grill goes from emotional animation to action-packed four-episode comedy series, “Farmed and Dangerous,” to raise concerns about food produced in non-ethical ways. The project that encourages the audience to take a new look at the world of industrial agriculture in America, and see the dangers of «improved» ways of growing cattle and vegetables.
The 2-minute trailer overviews the whole story, going behind the scenes of today’s corporate agribusiness. The first season focuses on the introduction of PetroPellet, which is a new petroleum-based animal feed developed by fictional industrial giant Animoil to reduce industrial agriculture’s dependence on oil. The actual security footage featuring a cow exploding during the experiments leaks into the internet and goes viral, causing much trouble to Animoil’s big boss Buck Marshall.
The season, produced by Chipotle and NYC-based studio Piro, premiers on Hulu and Hulu Plus on February 17. Each episode of “Farmed and Dangerous” will be 30 minutes long and launch on Mondays, one per week. The series stars a roster of Hollywood actors including Ray Wise (“Twin Peaks,” “Mad Men,” “24”), Eric Pierpoint (“Parks and Recreation,” “Big Love”), John Sloan (“The Glades,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “How I Met Your Mother”), and Karynn Moore (“Jane by Design,” “Water for Elephants”). The brand says the story will be continued with new seasons.
No Chipotle branding is integrated into the films, still a slight reference to the chain can be found in the name of the guy, a member of an organization committed to better farming, who shared the secret video. The project follows two award-winning animated short films—“Scarecrow” (2013) and “Back to the Start” (2011),—which put the destructive approaches in agriculture business into the spotlight and advocated for ethically and locally grown food.
“Chipotle’s genuine mission to change the world of fast food is a great foundation for storytelling,” said Tim Piper, a partner at Piro and director of “Farmed and Dangerous.” “The characters and plot reflect Chipotle’s position on sustainable agriculture and enables Chipotle to communicate with more engagement than traditional advertising.”
