By Glenn Alexander

Following Chipotle’s recent announcement that it will be offering free burritos to customers who try their vegan option, the restaurant chain has also announced that it is, until further notice, discontinuing its sale of “pork” due to its suppliers’ failures to meet Chipotle’s standards of animal welfare.  This has been met by cheers of praise from some animal-lovers, who thank the company for its apparent willingness to sacrifice profit for the sake of ethical values. 

Are Chipotle’s motives really that straightforward?  Unfortunately, it is rarely that simple— and this is no exception.  Chipotle’s “pork” boycott and free burritos are nothing but clever and deceptive PR stunts by a profit-hungry corporation.

  First, let’s look at short-term profit.  It’s unlikely that the company will lose much money from taking a single item off of its menu, especially if the removal is temporary.  Any consumer coming to the chain hoping for “pork” will, in all likelihood, choose to buy another menu item instead— which will probably be animal-based. Moreover, the increased attention brought on by these two recent press hits will result in more people patronizing the company in the immediate future. Chipotle’s profit margin remains intact.

The real insidiousness behind Chipotle’s stunt is in the company’s pursuit of long-term profit.  It is no coincidence that Chipotle’s announcements took place very soon after it stopped being the main target of Direct Action Everywhere’s national “It’s Not Food; It’s Violence” campaign.  After all, one of the company’s main profit sources is its ethical, wholesome image, and DxE’s campaign was based around challenging that very image.  It only makes sense, then, that after such a campaign has ended, the company would do what it could to quell any and all consumer doubts about its commitment to treating animals with care. 

Chipotle has convinced the public that it has found and ethical and responsible way to exploit and kill animals.  It has found a consumer base that wants to make a positive difference in the world, and provided it with the comforting lie that all consumers need to do to make good on their moral duties is buy the dead bodies and stolen products of animals who have been, in Chipotle’s words, “responsibly raised.”  Cornering that consumer base, especially given increased public concern for the treatment of animals on farms, stands to gain the company an incalculable amount of money.

Crucially, the success of Chipotle’s strategy does not depend on its actually treating animals with respect, but rather on convincing the public that it treats animals with respect.  As an open investigation of a "certified humane" reveals, even the so called best farms involve unconscionable animal suffering.  And, as many consumers know deep down, but willfully ignore, all “food animals” are slaughtered— and slaughter is inherently violent.

In this illusory win-win relationship, the animals lose – even the pigs Chipotle refuses to sell.  The unchallenged spread of this humane lie gives ethically minded consumers a comforting retreat when the exploitation of animals is discussed.

  “It’s not that we use animals that’s the problem; it’s how we use them.”

These lies guarantee that when Chipotle inevitably does bring pigs back onto the menu, people will buy them with clear consciences.  They guarantee long-term profit for whatever “pork” producers Chipotle chooses to buy from, thus ensuring the continued suffering and violent deaths of the pigs on those farms.  Most problematically, the myth of humane animal exploitation implicitly justifies the continued existence of all animal exploitation, and all of the suffering that comes with it, under the fraudulent guise that it can be reformed.

It cannot. There is nothing humane about slaughter. There is nothing compassionate about captivity. There is nothing ethical about animal agriculture. If you care about animals, don't look for the right way to do the wrong thing. Instead, join the ever-growing global movement for animal liberation: the right of every animal to be safe, happy, and free from human exploitation and violence.

Making real change for animals starts with you.