Two quick thoughts after watching the Grammy Awards:
1) The animated commercial (above) for the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation was brilliant. As Willie Nelson sang Coldplay's The Scientist and the images played out on the screen, showing industrial farms taking over our food system, transforming animals into easily shippable cubes of meat and robbing the soul of an old-fashioned farmer—hardly the sort of corporate message you expect to see on prime time on a major network—I sat up and said to Pamelia, "What IS this?"
It was an ad for the Chipotle Cultivate Foundation, a nonprofit arm of the Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurant chain. At first I laughed at the irony. I remembered reading several years ago that the majority owner of Chipotle was... McDonald's. But I did a little research and found that the burger giant has sold all of its interest in Chipotle, which now promotes its use of organic ingredients and its support for family farms. Chipotle bills itself as serving more naturally raised meat than any other restaurant chain and said its foundation is "aimed at supporting people, organizations and institutions that are committed to making a better, more sustainable future."
I'm sure there's a lot of p.r. spin in that, but I'll happily eat a burrito to thank Chipotle for a thought-provoking ad with a good message.
2) Hearing Coldplay perform another of its hits, Paradise, I was reminded how much I liked the elephant-escaping-from-a-British-zoo-and-returning-home video version of that song. If you love animals and hate the idea of their being confined, you should watch.