Here at LoveLove Films, we love to watch heartfelt, quality animations, which was why when we came across The Scarecrow, we knew that we had to write a blog about it.

Created by Academy Award winning USA Moonbot Studios in collaboration with CAA Marketing and Chipotle Mexican Grill, The Scarecrow is an Emmy Award-winning animated short set in a dystopian world where all food production is controlled by “Crow Foods”, a corporation who mistreat their livestock and fill them with chemicals in search of profit. The titular Scarecrow, along with all other scarecrows forced out of work by Crow Foods, is tasked with repairing the wood-panelled walls of the barns that the animals are kept in, and sees the horror through the gaps.

The ad features a range of heart breaking images, including 100% “Beef-ish” meat being sent out to waiting consumers, chickens being injected with hormones until they are twice their original size and cows being kept alone in tight metal boxes in a dark factory, all set to a hypnotic rendition of “Pure Imagination” recorded by Fiona Apple. Towards the end of the advert, the Scarecrow decides to break free from the tyranny of “Crow Foods”, choosing instead to make his own food, all from produce grown in his own garden, and sell that to people waiting to buy the over-processed food.

The Scarecrow tackles difficult and controversial themes in an insightful and emotional way. Typically, references made to industrial food production are intended to make the reader or viewer feel guilt about their eating habits, but the Scarecrow swerves around this, instead encouraging the audience to “Cultivate a Better World”, which gives the campaign a refreshing twist and inspires the audience to take action.

The video forms part of a bigger campaign run by Chipotle, all of which centre around the idea of sustainable and humane farming. Their previous video, Back to the Start, a stop motion video centred around a man choosing to keep his family farm cruelty free, was also critically acclaimed and named among AdWeek’s 10 Best Commercials of 2011. Their most recent addition to the campaign, A Love Story, follows a boy and girl as their lemonade and orange stands eventually grow into uncontrollable processed food giants, until they realise their mistakes and try to shut them down.

Proceeds from awards won by adverts in the campaign go towards the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation, which was established in 2011 to assist in the creation of more sustainable food production. The foundation has contributed more than $2 million towards initiatives that support sustainable agriculture and farming, food education and innovation that promotes better food.

The “Cultivate a Better World” campaign is a brilliant example of smart and honest advertising, and is promoting a better awareness of where our food really comes from without needing to use truly horrifying imagery, thanks to their clever use of animation.

One of the things that truly left all of us at LoveLove Films in awe was the quality of the animation- Moonbot Studios produce feature quality animation, and this is evident throughout all of their work. The Scarecrow has an almost dreamlike quality and is reminiscent of the short films produced by Disney, which is part of what makes the animation so charming, and makes the message feel so sincere.

All of us at LoveLove Films have always loved clever and heartfelt use of animation in advertising, and the Scarecrow is a shining example of that. We certainly can’t wait to see what Chipotle produce next, but we’re sure that it will be just as unique and inspiring as the Scarecrow.

Please note:

We did not produce  The Scarecrow –  We just think its really fabulous!