The Subway Sandwich Facebook Viral Photo Scandal

[guitarfool2002]

It's funny how this just appeared. Long story short, a guy in Australia bought a sandwich from Subway which they advertise as a "footlong" sub, which would of course mean the roll measures 12 inches. The guy photographed his footlong sandwich next to a ruler showing that in fact his sandwich was short of the 12 inches. The photo went viral through Facebook and other online media, and inspired others to post similar photos of sandwiches they had bought at Subway.

The photo and post soon disappeared from Facebook, Subway claims they didn't remove it and attempts to contact the original poster in Australia were unsuccessful. Which I'm glad to see, because posting something negative about a consumer product should not be taken as permission for anyone to feel free to contact you in any way, or to expect to be hounded by the media after something you post goes viral. But that's right to privacy and all that.

The main point is sandwiches. And quite frankly, this has been doing a slow burn with me for several months, inspired by a big roadside Subway billboard and various print and television ads we get bombarded with showing these fantastic overstuffed Subway sandwiches just brimming over with fresh goodness...

To be blunt, that is a load of bull. Or bollocks, whatever you want to say.

You order one of these sandwiches, choose the bread, the type of sandwich, then the toppings. If you order, say, a turkey sandwich, they'll lay a few thin slices of turkey, if you want cheese they lay maybe two to four triangular semi-pieces of cheese into the roll, and toppings amounts to a pinch of onion - never more than the minimum in my experiences, and everything is measured. I've gotten refusals and even odd looks when I asked for, say, "more onions please" or whatever topping was being skimped on with my sandwich order.

Then they wrap it up, charge the 5 bucks or whatever, and you come back to unwrap and eat it and you basically get a sandwich which is close to 80% roll/bread, and the other 20% is the meat/cheese/topping combo, usually weighing heavily toward the least expensive of the topping choices which they don't mind going a little heavy on. Oh, and tomatoes which are more white in color than red, from the place and method they are grown in artificial conditions.

It's a rip off, if you're someone who knows a quality sandwich.

I'm spoiled by growing up and living outside of Philly. The hoagies here are terrific, owing a lot to people who know how to make a proper sandwich on a roll, and a bakery called Amoroso, one of a few that supply the best Italian-style rolls to area sandwich shops. The best sandwiches are around Philly, and no I do not only mean the cheesesteak (some of which around here are great beyond belief...).

My point is that when you see those Subway ads and photos, it shows a sandwich with easily twice or three times the amount of "stuff" in the roll than the ones you actually get at Subway locations.

I wish people would post A-B comparisons of the Subway ads showing the sandwiches next to the actual sandwich they just bought at the shop itself. The comparisons would be staggering.

I feel the same about what I call "corporate pizza". That would be the major chains selling pizza, which will go nameless, but we all know the big players.

These places give people jobs, they provide a consistent product, but they are not good pizza, they are not real pizza, and I feel sorry for anyone who has never enjoyed an authentic slice of pizza from an Italian pizzeria who knows how to make a good pie. Everything is structured, measured, and approved by some corporate headquarters, from the sauce to the toppings to the cheese to the whatever...and it's a bland product.

Get a real pizza, an authentic slice that drips that bit of grease off the front as you go to grab the first bite, from a place that looks and feels like a pizza place, where the uniform of the day isn't a corporate uniform but rather a white apron filled with sauce and flour and an actual *pizza oven* and not a chain or belt-driven assembly line contraption that the worker loads the dough on one side and it comes out a finished pie. No way.

And to get political for just a second...Can someone enlighten me where the f*** I'd be able to actually find a "Godfather's Pizza" location, that chain made famous by the failed presidential candidate Herman Cain? I never heard of Godfather's until the GOP primaries, still haven't seen where a single location might be available. Not that I'd go there, but still...what the hell is this place?

I guess my rant is a result of seeing this Subway story go viral, and it's a symptom of but not the actual problem with these corporate locations which claim to do something like make a sandwich or a pizza in a franchise setting and fall waaaayyyy short of the local independent shops and stores which know how to do it right, and usually won't skimp on ingredients to meet some standard set by a guy in a suit and expensive loafers.

Buy local, buy independent, leave the Subway subs and the fake pizzas and burgers alone. Unless of course you enjoy the bigger-name franchises, which is fine, too.

[EgoHanger1966]

Subway is a joke, anyway - there are local, family owned joints on every corner here with more "authentic" fare (I'd imagine in most places, not all, there is an alternative to get a real hoagie, grinder, or steak sandwich) - and not that much more expensive, either. And, besides that point, it's just an inch of sub missing from the sandwiches - don't wanna get jypped? Don't eat there, no big deal. Sometimes I feel these stories get hyped and created just so people can have something to talk about...

[Jason]

Subway's stuff tastes like sh*t.

[guitarfool2002]

Yeah, I simply stopped going there some time ago. The last "sub" I got there was a meatball, and not only was it pathetic in how few meatballs they actually put into the giant roll, but the sauce was soured as if they had it heating on the "hot station" all day Friday, wrapped it up Friday night, chilled it, then put it back on for the next day or two later. Turned my stomach, I didn't finish it. And I *always* finish a sandwich.

I got spoiled by eating at places like Pudge's, one of the best steak sandwiches I've ever had: http://pudgescheesesteaks.com/

The original "Zep" at Eve's in Norristown: http://eveslunch.com/

Any number of hoagies from my general area.

Pizza from the former "Italian Delight" which used to be at the King Of Prussia Plaza, lower floor, where Kiddie City was located. I cannot eat a slice of pizza without comparing it to Italian Delight. The original owners sold the place, it hasn't been the same in a decade or so.

Roast beef sandwiches: places like Nick's Roast Beef, Kelly's Roast Beef in Revere Beach Mass, any number of smaller places where you need a minimum of 6 napkins to eat the sandwich as all the meat juice and sauce drips out of the roll.

The point is, these places do it *right*, they have done it *right* for decades in some cases, and they don't receive corporate memos from Texas or wherever HQ is located telling them to decrease the per-serving amounts of onions on each sandwich because accounting and purchasing thinks there was too much being spent on onions last quarter.

And the quality is usually high with these independent places, because they actually prepare the food right there and control where they buy their own ingredients...it doesn't come in pre-packaged bags and frozen packs so the Subway in Indiana gets the same stuff as the one in Maine...that's not how real food works. There can inconsistency, there is not a cookie-cutter one-size-fits-all mentality which some can control in every step, but that's the charm just the same. The quality and authentic nature of the food is what keeps people coming back for more.

I'm just saying again, whatever went wrong in the past 40-50 years where a cookie-cutter approach and corporate standards applied across the board took over from small restaurants and shops making good and unique food...a lot of the bad taste of the fake pizzas and phony "subs" disappears when you're enjoying some of the local shops which do the job the right way.

If you break it down, the franchises are not far removed from the cafeteria lines we stood in as kids (in the past 40 years). We've graduated, started families and whatnot, yet millions of us return to the cafeteria line every week, trays in hand, the only difference is we're paying for a Subway sandwich and Pepsi rather than chicken nuggets and milk. 

[Bean Bag]

A real sub from a real deli... is one of life's great rewards.  Now I'm hungry, dammit.   

Subway does not make subs.  It's a type of long, tasteless sandwich.  It hits the spot sometimes... when you want something fast and light, not greasy.  And can't get to a deli.  But you're right, not a real sub -- no way.  And the difference between the Ads and Product have always made me laugh.  I can't think of any place that's so misleading.  While McDonald's food always look better on TV...it's not too far off from the real product.  But with Subway it's two totally different products.  Completely different.

Chain pizzas -- or BIG Pizza -- is almost entirely inedible.  Pizza Hut can be okay -- they're actually a restaurant, with ovens.  Or at least they used to be, I don't know.  But the other ones are, well, I don't know what they are.  It's like bread, ketchup... and plastic cheese.  I bet much of the country doesn't know what real pizza is.  That's sad.

Godfather's pizza?  We had one near my town growing up.  Everyone hated it.  I can't remember eating it.  But it had a reputation for sucking.  Maybe that was before Herman Cain took over? 

Absolutely -- support the ma&pa delis, pizzerias, burger joints.  I have nothing against the big chains... but I just can't figure out how the f***k they stay in business.  And why they even bother making total sh*t, when making good stuff is probably just as easy.

And why would you ever order the meatball sub from Subway, guitarfool!!??  Come on!!!

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

Guitarfool: there's a Godfather's in Los Angeles on Venice BLVD and Motor!

Would be a good place to stop on your way to the Beach Boys historical landmark in Hawthorne!

[Bean Bag]

Corporate Pizza Ad: #107a

Start Sultry Sax Music...
We start with a big round piece of bread.  Pizza-shaped.  Then we pour a whole, rich can of Brand X ketchup all over it.  Yeah, we lather it up.     But we're not finished.  No.  Then we top it all off with mounds of shredded plastic.  Mmmmm, baby  And it's all rolled down our motorized flavor-belt -- gliding slowly over a genuine running V8 engine --- VaROOM! -- roasting in all those rich, melted-plastic flavors.  Oh, yeaah!  It takes time... but it's worth it.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

I worked at a Dominoes when I was in high school and the guy who managed the place told me a pizza shop he'd worked at in San Diego had been shut down for using condoms as their "cheese" ...  

[Bean Bag]

 

[Mikie]

Saw this story yesterday. Subway sandwiches are just not a good value for the money. All bread and no substance. Even the five dollar ones. Remember the guy who founded Subway and how there was a marketing campaign on how he lost so much weight after eating Subway sandwiches? Now you know why - there's hardly any meat or cheese in 'em!  I never did like the way they sliced their bread horizontally.  And whenever I ask for more than one type meat, they charge you up the wazoo. Just don't get what you pay for. And without fail, when you say you want everything on it, they will come back and ask you more than once if you want this or that or the other thing on it. I said EVERYTHING! And their breakfast sandwiches with flatbread suck!

Was just reading the other day how Pete Rose eats a Subway salad EVERY DAY! Must be that expensive seven dollar salad he's talking about, because the other ones are NOTHING!

I've stayed away from Subway for a few years, opting for Togo's and Quiznos and Safeway Deli. You get what you pay for with those sandwiches; they don't skimp on the meat, and they're cheaper. Well, not Quiznos really.

Speaking of Subway, look what happened earlier this month in Florida:

http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/ketchup-confrontation-nearly-leads-blows-between-r/nTkrW/

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

"Don't skimp on the meat"!!!!

http://youtu.be/ykGsGTuHljM

[Al Jardine: Pick Up Artist]

don't wanna get jypped?

Don't say that. It's spelled gypped and refers to gypsies, and is actually a very racist term.

[Dunderhead]

People don't like subway?

[Dunderhead]

don't wanna get jypped?

Don't say that. It's spelled gypped and refers to gypsies, and is actually a very racist term.

gypped gypped gypped gypped

[Mikie]

"Don't skimp on the meat"!!!!

http://youtu.be/ykGsGTuHljM

Damn. That musta hurt.

[Mike's Beard]

I can't speak for the rest of the world but in the UK the size of a Big Mac has practically halved in size from when I was a child.

[Bean Bag]

I can't speak for the rest of the world but in the UK the size of a Big Mac has practically halved in size from when I was a child.

British health mandates?

[guitarfool2002]

I was considering posting a real vs. advertising comparison by buying an actual sandwich at the local Subway(s), then putting them next to the photos in their ads, and posting it on the Subway Facebook page or wherever the guy in Australia posted his to cause such a stir.

But I got paranoid about a possible scenario like this:

It would happen on a cold, crisp winter's day, much like today. I'm home, reading the paper. Someone knocks on the door. I open the door, and it's a group of four men. One of them is holding a Subway sandwich and a fresh-baked cookie in a bag, the other is wearing a baseball uniform and cap pulled low - he's holding a baseball bat. The other two are burly, muscular guys wearing sunglasses and Subway hats who look to be hired goons. I recognize the guy with the sandwich: It's Jared Fogle, the guy from the Subway ads. I say "You're Jared, the Subway guy!". He replies "Are you Guitarfool2002?" I say "Um, yes...". Jared replies "My associates and I are here to have a chat with you. Let's go, boys.".

Before I can react, the baseball player wedges his left cleat into the door, so I can't close it. I then recognize him as Philadelphia Phillies slugger and Subway spokesman Ryan Howard. His foot holds open the door as the group files in. "How's this for a foot long, hahaha!" he laughs. He's now tapping the bat into his open hand, in a threatening way. I watch as they see the kitchen and walk towards it. "Pull up a chair, let's talk and eat" Jared says.

He pulls out of the bag a footlong sandwich, along with a stack of recycled napkins, the kind that fall to pieces if they get wet. He says "We heard you have a problem with our food, and posted some photos on a website. We want you to reconsider that position. Take a few bites of the sandwich, enjoy the fresh-baked cookie, and I think you'll want to rethink your opinions of our food, and tell everyone online how you really love Subway and eat there multiple times each week."

I grab the sandwich - I can tell it's a few inches short of a foot long, but I choose not to say anything with Ryan Howard still holding the bat standing behind me. I look at it...the sandwich appears to be a "Black Forest Ham" sub.

"This looks good", I say, "but I don't like Black Forest Ham. Can I just eat the cookie instead?"

One of the goons grabs my Betty Boop cookie jar off the counter top, smashes it on the floor, and yells "Eat that f$^*ing sandwich!"

So I take a few bites. Jared asks "Now you agree that the sandwich is great?" I reply "I don't know, I haven't gotten to the ingredients yet, I'm still chewing the roll..."

"This guy..." the other goon says as he grabs my George Foreman grill and is about to throw it through the window.

Then Jared pulls out an iPad. "We want you to write a positive blog about Subway, and our Black Forest Ham footlong subs, and the cookies, and everything that makes us so successful." "But I haven't tasted the ham yet, I'm still on the roll..." I say.

"Write the blog", says Ryan Howard. I turn and ask him "When are you going to get back to swinging for the fence again so the Phils can generate some runs this year?" "Write."

So I write a glowing blog for Subway and they continue to sell sandwiches that look nothing like what they show in their ads.

[hypehat]

 

The only thing Subway was good for was the unholy opening hours rescuing me from the brink of starvation after long nights essaywriting at uni (and yes, quarter to three in the morning is dinnertime in the third year). But I could think of several thousand places in East London where I'd rather get a sandwich. Subway's a conveyor belt.

[Alex]

Best sub I've ever had was from a place in D.C. called Potbelly's. Night and day difference from anything I've had here in mostly rural northern New York (Subway and Quizno's about an hour away, and numerous local places with generic-tasting sandwiches that are still better than anything you'd get from Subway).

EDIT: Just found the Potbelly's website, turns out they're a chain, but the closest ones to me are down in NYC. Might be worth making the 5 hour drive or 6-7 hour train ride just to get a sub.  

[Mikie]

And now Subway is being sued for this!  This isn't good for their P.R. at all.  Next time I go in there, I'm gonna bring my little tape measure.....

http://www.clarionledger.com/viewart/20130123/NEWS/130123010/Subway-sued-over-short-footlong-sandwiches

[Aegir]

I'm a vegetarian and I go to Subway on a fairly regular basis (a few times a month). I find the "Veggie Delite" to be a great price for the amount of food I'm getting. Maybe they just feel bad for me but every Subway I've ever been too, they always stuff the sandwich with as many vegetables as possible. I think the eggplant parm sandwich is pretty gross though. 

[guitarfool2002]

And now Subway is being sued for this!  This isn't good for their P.R. at all.  Next time I go in there, I'm gonna bring my little tape measure.....

http://www.clarionledger.com/viewart/20130123/NEWS/130123010/Subway-sued-over-short-footlong-sandwiches

Beat me to it! I just heard this today, and thought wow, the story is getting legs.

The discussion was whether such a lawsuit was frivolous. Someone seems to have won everyone over to say it's *not* frivolous by pointing out that if Subway took a inch or more off of every footlong, in the amount of time during a busy lunch hour at a bigger location, they'd have one full extra loaf of footlong bread for every dozen people who ordered one that was short by an inch.

I know firsthand a famous company got caught shorting bottles of a very popular topping and got fined for it, because the weight and volume listed on the bottle wasn't what they were actually selling. Why should Subway be different?

My main issue is still the way they skimp on the stuff they put inside the roll, but if this gets publicity as it is maybe that issue will be raised too.

Come to Philly for a real hoagie, none of these "subs".