The Scarecrow is an animated 3-minute short for Chipotle. It's set to Fiona Apple's version of "Pure Imagination" from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
In it, a scarecrow gets a job at a factory called Crow Foods Incorporated. On the outside it looks like an idealistic farm, but on the inside of the building it's cold and conformist. The scarecrow is dissatisfied with his new job and quits. He leaves town and begins working at a better farm.
The original video has since been deleted and its accompanying video game is gone too, but the video has been reuploaded by the animation studio behind it
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The Scarecrow provides examples of:
- Bad People Abuse Animals: The ad uses this on a corporate mass-scale. The company is so desensitized that it treats animals like objects, keeping them boxed up all day, drugging them up, and putting them on conveyor belts to uniformly send them off to the slaughter.
- Black Bead Eyes: All the characters have simplistic black eyes.
- Dystopian Oz: The dirty, corporate city that the Scarecrow escapes from is styled after the Emerald City. The Scarecrow himself is a reference to Oz's Scarecrow.
- Overalls and Gingham: The titular scarecrow's old-fashioned straw hat, gingham clothes, and overalls contrast with the modern and materialistic factory he works at.
- Shout-Out: The ad references the Land of Oz series. The Scarecrow parallels Oz's Scarecrow, while the city is similar to a more modern Emerald City.
- Take That!: Being a Chipotle ad, it takes hits as its competitors. The competition are Crow Foods while Chipotle is the wholesome alternative.
- What Were They Selling Again?: The ad doesn't reveal itself to be Chipotle-related until the logo appears at the end. It seems like just an environmentalism and animal welfare themed short.
