Posted on 08/03/2004 3:25:32 PM PDT by swilhelm73
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. - A tray liner at most of Subway restaurants' 100 German franchises has stirred up some controversy in the United States.
While the Milford-based company contends the liners are simply promotional tie-ins to the film "Super Size Me," others claim they are ads through which the company is exploiting anti-American feelings in Germany to make a buck.
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, issued a statement Monday decrying the tray liners, saying Subway thumbed its nose at American customers and promoted "Michael Moore's blame-America-first conspiracy in a foreign country."
A spokesman for DeLay could not be reached for comment Thursday evening, but Kevin Kane of Subway said company founder Fred DeLuca placed a call to DeLay on Thursday. However, the two have yet to talk.
"Super Size Me" tells the story of filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, who gained weight and saw his health deteriorate after a month during which he ate nothing but fast food.
The tray liners include a picture of Spurlock with his mouth stuffed with french fries, as well as a depiction of a fat Statue of Liberty with fries in her raised hand and a burger in the other hand, a description of the film and the caption - translation provided by the National Legal and Policy Center - "Why are the Americans so fat?" Kane said DeLuca was surprised by DeLay's statement.
Kane also explained that the German franchises don't have to first run their promotional activities by the corporate parent.
Movie promotions on tray liners are not unusual, Kane said. The trade-off with theaters could be a Subway promotion or theater discounts for customers. The German marketing company has done this with other movies, including the recent "50 First Dates" and "Paycheck," Kane said.
Kane declined to comment on whether the corporate parent will tell the franchises to pull the tray liners, or on whether DeLuca thinks the promotion is unethical and insulting to Americans.
That, however, is the contention of Ken Boehm, chairman of the Falls Church, Va.-based National Legal and Policy Center.
The center issued a press release that said the tray liners represent a European ad campaign "designed to exploit anti-American sentiment."
According to Boehm, the NLPC, which has a rendering of the liner on its Web site at www.nlpc.org, is a nonprofit group that gets its funding from about 3,000 supporters nationwide, including small family foundations. He said its purpose is to promote ethics and openness in government and business and that it is not affiliated with any political party.
"It's certainly the type of thing they wouldn't use over here. They're appealing to an anti-American bias that exists in Europe."
If Subway wanted to appeal to a German market, said Boehm, who claims German ancestry, then why didn't the tray liners ask why are Germans so fat?
It's not offensive to say in general that Americans eat too much, Boehm said. He say he believes that what's wrong is tying it into existing prejudices to sell a product.
The founder of Subway is a HUGE lib.
Quiznos subs kicks Subway arse.
Subway just lost a customer....
There are too many alternatives for one to do business with those that give comfort to the enemy..
Semper Fi
Can I have your stamps?
Bump. I used to like Subway, but after trying Quiznos (and Shlotsky's), there's no going back to that bland venue for me...
If Americans were allowed 45 vacation days per year (the entire month of August off) and we had 2 hour+ lunch times, and didn't have any productivity to speak of...we would be thin also.
When I worked in Rome, most people came in at 9:30am, had their caffe, worked until 12:15 (lunchtime), went to the pool to swim for an hour or do aerobics for an hour, then had lunch until 2:00pm, worked until 6:00pm and then left on the bus to take the metro home. The last bus ran at 8:00pm. Every month had 2-3 religious holidays also that were freebies under their "contract" with the workers unions.
It's not so much what you eat but the stress level that makes you want to eat.
Stamps?
I don't have no stamps.
I don't need no stiiiinking stamps...
Semper Fi
I posted a story yesterday that quoted Subway as saying they've already yanked the campaign.
Speaking strictly for myself, the Gobi would be quite enough for me. I see no need to take the Sahara as well.
You got me.
I like your dry, if not arid, humor.
(Humor is only part of my cunning master plan of administering spelling flames without looking like a humorless wiener).
Friends at Fox (early morning show) had Mancow on this morning. He visited Germany this year and the tray liners had two different insults:
The first was a fat Lady Liberty - definitely demeaning Americans...
The second (after complaints about the first) is a giant hamburger hitting what appears to be the Twin Towers.
That's it for Subway....boycott time!
Update:
Fox and Friends have just announced the tray liners depicting the Statue of Liberty have been pulled, but the
other picture of the hamburger/twin towers scene is in a handout on meal planning (dietary information)...at their outlets.
Boycott Subway
Subway trying to say the twin tower cartoon with the burger wasnt actually put out??? I dont know if I buy this junk. Many sources have said that it was put out.
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