Anti-Big Ag Ad Wins Top Cannes Honors

The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, one of the largest media award shows in the world, has given Chipotle the Film Lions Grand Prix for its recent anti-factory farming advertisement. The ad, which was also conceptualized with Creative Artists Agency and features a cover of Coldplay’s “The Scientist” performed by Willie Nelson, uses animation to show a narrative of a farmer transitioning from a small business to a large-scale industrial operation, eventually returning to a more sustainable model when he realizes the detriment to his animals and the environment. Judges praised the campaign for its “heart impact and gut impact,” with jury chairman Khai Meng Tham commenting, “Factory farming is such a big issue everywhere in the world. For a fast-food company to do this will, we hope, change the industry, change the world.”