Chipotle admits staging Twitter hack

The first clue might have been that Chipotle never deleted the tweets in question, as is common brand practice following a hack. Instead, the burrito-and-taco chain’s Twitter account simply acknowledged a “little problem” and moved on.

“We thought that people would pay attention, that it would cut through people’s attention and make them talk, and it did that,” Chipotle spokesman Chris Arnold told Mashable.

The stunt was intended to focus attention on the company’s 20th anniversary promotion, a “treasure hunt” called Adventurrito. It’s a puzzle game, and on the day of the hack, the puzzle had to do with Chipotle’s ingredients. That’s why the tweets during the faux hack were about avocados, lime, salt, and onions, Arnold said.

“We had clues pop up in a lot of places and thought that incorporating something into our social media presence would fit well into that promotion,” he said.