McDonald's Norway's weird puppet love letter to farmers

A marionette McDonald's employee meets an elderly farmer, and what follows is an oddly romantic music video:



I'm still trying to figure this one out. Here's the description by McDonald's Norge:

The film is made by Qvisten Animation and depicts the long lasting bond between the Norwegian farmers and McDonald’s. The relationship is personified by two marionette actors controlled by the amazing Ricky Syers.  

There’s of course no love story without a proper love song. The beautiful interpretation of ”When You Say Nothing At All” by Ronan Keating, says it all. Especially so considering the puppets’ rather restricted ability to express themselves verbally. They show their feelings through body language and as the film shows they’re working hard to convey Mr. Keatings words as accurately as their bodies allow.

So the message is, "McDonald's loves its farmer suppliers and they love us". But the message is played out so literally that it's uncomfortably sentimental. I mean, we're really supposed to believe that this corporation exists because it loves rural life?

This campaign fits in with the basic strategy of other farm-to-fork initiatives in the United States, Australia and Canada. But the execution, by DDB Oslo, leaves me scratching my head. It just asks for too much suspension of disbelief, leaving me more cynical than ever.

Via Facebook

H/T Burger Business

Chipotle is killing them softly with this song

Don't get me wrong. I eat meat, and I prefer to eat ethical meat. I also love the aesthetics of this straight-to web video by Chipotle, who use a gentle Willie Nelson cover of Coldplay's "The Scientist" and a wonderful animation by London's Johnny Kelly to promote their move to more sustainable food systems.



I applaud them on the effort, although I remain skeptical that a large fast food chain can be as local and low-tech as that. They have, however donated more than $2 million over the past two years to philanthropic organizations including Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, The Nature Conservancy, FamilyFarmed.org, The Lunch Box and the Niman Ranch Scholarship Fund. 

They've also been at this since last year:




Do you buy it?


(Thanks to @jayham for the tip.)