Activists Protest Chipotle in 26 Cities

Activists in 26 cities in 8 countries from an organization called Direct Action Everywhere (DxE) are conducting monthly protests against the vegan-friendly fast food chain Chipotle because they believe that their marketing campaign, which exposes factory farm cruelty and suggests that their animals are humanely raised and slaughtered, is fraudulent. As one of the campaign organizers states, “The company is trying to market killing as humane, but there is no escaping the reality that slitting an animal’s throat is violent.” According to an article in Salon.com, “DxE’s protests raise the question of whether, in the frenzy to market and consume more humane animal products, we are completely ignoring the fundamental moral issue. Why, for example, is cutting off chickens’ beaks unacceptable cruelty, but cutting their throats is perfectly fine?”

Millions of the animals slaughtered by Chipotle come from the same factory farms that Chipotle claims to oppose. When Chipotle encourages consumers to pick them over other their competitors on the grounds that their animals are “humanely raised,” they are not only being dishonest, but they are also giving people a free pass to eat animals when they might have otherwise abstained. Even if Chipotle’s animals were raised humanely, which is impossible given the sheer numbers, they all meet the same grisly death. Slaughter is inherently inhumane, which is one of many reasons to advocate for a plant-based diet using free materials like those offered by Vegan Outreach. I would feel a whole lot better about eating Chipotle’s delicious vegan sofritas if they stopped saying that the millions of animals who they raise and slaughter had humane lives and deaths.