Chipotle is again targeting artificial ingredients with its new “Taste Invaders” online game—a play on the retro “Space Invaders” arcade game that lets participants “destroy” a host of additives in character as a moving burrito.
If players lose the game, which Chipotle describes as “a galactic battle against artificial ingredients,” they receive such messages as: “You just silicon diox-died.”
This is the second time this year the chain has used an online game to highlight artificial ingredients used on quick-service menus. Its “Friend or Faux” game, released in July, pitted Chipotle’s ingredients against those used by a range of fast-food competitors.
“There’s been a lot of talk recently about fast food companies removing artificial ingredients from their food, but most of these announcements cover only a portion of the thousands of additives used in processed foods,” said Mark Crumpacker, Chipotle’s chief creative and development officer, at the time.
Still, Chipotle’s well-publicized efforts to champion itself as a chain without the baggage of additives may draw fire from some, as Chipotle was sued last month over its widely publicized “Food With Integrity” campaign, which declared that the chain used GMO-free ingredients exclusively. The suit alleges that several of Chipotle’s menu items do, in fact, contain GMOs.
Chipotle declined to comment on the lawsuit, though a spokesman said the company plans to fight it.
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