Has the discraced pitch man hurt the franchise?

[jlwilliams]

By now we've all seen the news about SubWay's pitch man "Jared" admitting to sex with children. We have all heard and seen the jokes so let's leave them on facebook.

What this has to do with entrepreneurship is the question of how badly does this hurt the franchise. When the pitch man gets disgraced, does that "rub off" on the brand he pitched? How so? Why, or why not?

I got to thinking about this as I was driving around and passed a SubWay. It looked like they were doing business. People still eat lunch and SubWay has carved out their share of that niche, and then this happens. They didn't do anything, but their add face did so the company has a sex scandal attached to their image. A really ugly one at that. One would think there may be some effect on them, but is there? All I saw was one store at lunch time, but what I saw was people lined up buying sandwiches.

This speaks to the mindset of the "joe average consumer" and it speaks to the very core of what it means to hire a "face" for your advertising. For those of us who sell stuff and craft advertising, this is a piece of current events we need to look at.

What are your thoughts?

 

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[Esquire]

I doubt it.

The whole Jared thing is not "Subway's" fault.

If I'm hungry ... "Jared" ain't stopping me from going to Subway.

(The Atkins Diet, on the other hand ...)

 

[DeletedUser394]

Couldn't care less about the noise.

I enjoy eating at Subway once in a while, and will continue to do so.

If a company has a product or service that I want + offered for a reasonable price, I will buy.

Just like that hobby lobby situation. I don't even know what they sell, but if I wanted something that they sell, I would buy it even if I disagree with their stances on whatever issues.

 

[AgainstAllOdds]

The news might even be a benefit.

Think about how your brain processes the info. Mine processes it this way:

"Jared Fogle is a piece of shit. Jared Fogle is significant because I know him as the Subway guy. He's the Subway guy because he lost a lot of weight on the Subway diet. Subway's pretty healthy if that fat F*ck could lose weight. Will Subway make me a piece of shit? No. Will it make me skinny? I don't know. But their buffalo chicken's pretty good. Maybe I should go to Subway."

 

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[jlwilliams]

Couldn't care less about the noise.

I enjoy eating at Subway once in a while, and will continue to do so.

If a company has a product or service that I want + offered for a reasonable price, I will buy.

Just like that hobby lobby situation. I don't even know what they sell, but if I wanted something that they sell, I would buy it even if I disagree with their stances on whatever issues.

This is exactly how I see it. When I want something, I don't care what the sellers politics are. "Oh, you agree/disagree with me about. _______, that's nice. Yes, I would like to hear today's specials...."

Given that people (at least those who have weighed in here) don't connect the crimes of the spokesman with the company, what does that mean as far as using a "personality" in advertising vs random smiling faces? Is it only people like us who see the differentiation between face and company, or does Joe Sixpack now refuse to eat at the pervert's favorite eatery?

 

[Inphinity]

I think the timing matters, of course. Speaking generally (not just Jared/Subway) you would be a fool, in my opinion, to use someone as a spokesperson AFTER information about their illegal activities has come out. In Jared's case, if some business went and got him now to promote them, I would probably think less of the business. Or, going back to a more generic reference, if it came out that a business had in any way shape or form been associated with the illegal activity of a spokesperson or representative, I would probably also think more negatively about them. But in a case like this, I do not view Subway in any way more negatively just because of the actions of someone who once upon a time was associated with them.

 

[eliquid]

But their buffalo chicken's pretty good. Maybe I should go to Subway."

It is good, it's what I get when I go.

I think I'm going to have it for lunch actually. See, Jared helped Subway get more sales just now.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

Has the discraced pitch man hurt the franchise?

I don't think so.

I think what's hurt the franchise is putting them on every corner, cannibalizing every franchisee that owns one.

Then of course there's the food which is now struggling to compete with better alternatives in healthy food, Chipolte, etc.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...a0a84a-fa7a-11e4-a13c-193b1241d51a_story.html

American's view of healthy has changed and it isn't Subway.

The next time I'll eat at a Subway is the next time I'm in the mood for highly processed cheap meat delivered from tissue paper. Yea, that will be never.

PS: I should add they every Subway I've ever been in, stink... like dirty mop water.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/subway-considering-making-2-drastic-155244949.html

The sandwich chain, which has recently been plagued by declining sales and a scandal involving its former spokesman Jared Fogle, will undergo its first brand overhaul in seven years, reports Josh Kosman at The New York Post.

Subway's US sales last year fell by 3%, the most of any of the top 25 fast-food chains, Drew Harwell reports at The Washington Post.

 

[Veloce Grey]

The next time I'll eat at a Subway is the next time I'm in the mood for highly processed cheap meat delivered from tissue paper. Yea, that will be never.

It's like they'd gotten lazy and forgotten that consumer's expectations are always rising.

Subway only arrived here about 10 years ago. Back then it had a novelty and I probably went there every week. Now the idea of getting soggy half-warm microwaved chicken in a sandwich is off-putting. I think I've been once this year. And this is without any similar competition for 150 miles.

When I visit the city I find the choice between lunch somewhere like Nandos or Subway is fairly easy. Given the market in the USA is far more competitive I'm not surprised they're having problems.

 

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