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February 15, 2005

Subway has good sandwiches, but their ads turn my stomach

Time for a little pet-peeve rant on a subject brought to my attention once again by a lunchtime commercial.

Since about the time Subway sandwich shops started promoting healthy eating (via their mascot, Jared), their ads have used outrageously misleading comparisons to persuade us that their stuff is healthier than the stuff sold by other fast food chains.

Their strategy, repeated ad nauseam, is to pit one of Subway's healthiest products against their competition's least healthy product.

"Wait a minute! Are you telling me that Subway's 6-inch Turkey Breast sandwich has less fat than McDonald's Big Mac?? Clearly, Subway has a more healthy menu than McDonald's does!"

You know that's the thought they want to leave in your mind. That's why they didn't compare their tuna deli sandwich (31 fat grams) with the Big Mac (30 fat grams).

Yeah, yeah.... I know: MISLEADING ADVERTISING! STOP THE PRESSES! Aren't there more important things in life than fretting over the way that a business hooks gullible customers?

Well, sure there are. Still, the fact that they're being so obvious about it really kills any appetite I might have for their products, healthy or not.

Okay, I'm done. You can go back to whatever it is you're supposed to be doing.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Since you bring up one of my pet pieves as well .. when they say "only 6 grams of fat" or whatever, does that mean a dry sandwich with no sauce, etc?

Tim said...

That's correct. Condiments, vegetables, etc. are considered add-ons, so aren't included in the calorie/fat counts.

Anonymous said...

With the time not spent at Subway, Anonymous could learn how to spell "peeves."