Subway: The New King of Junk Food

http://www.organicconsumers.org/corp/subway071504.cfm; MSNBC advertisements ^ | 7/15/04 | Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman

[Cvengr]

What's the largest fast junk food chain in the country?

Wrong.

It's not McDonald's.

It's Subway.

Subway overtook McDonald's last year in the United States and now has 15,874 locations in the U.S. compared to 11,533 for McDonald's.

Worldwide, Subway has 21,528 restaurants in 75 countries.

McDonald's has more than 30,000 restaurants in 119 countries.

Subway founder Fred DeLuca says he wants 30,000 outlets worldwide by 2010.

Of course, Subway would not want you to think that it is not a fast junk food chain.

In fact, the privately held firm has overtaken McDonald's by riding a wave of publicity featuring Jared Fogle, who says he lost 245 pounds on the following diet ­ coffee for breakfast, Subway sandwich for lunch, and Subway sandwich for dinner.

Soon, the word was out ­ you could lose weight eating Subway sandwiches.

And tomorrow, on the National Mall, Subway founder and CEO DeLuca will join with Fogle, the American Heart Association, members of Congress (including the corporate liberal Rose DeLauro, D-Connecticut, whose district contains Subway's corporate headquarters), and various "nutritional experts" to "galvanize support for fighting childhood obesity."

We went and visited our local Subway and found that in fact, there was health and diet information displayed, including a nutritional and dietary guide with the American Heart Association's stamp of approval.

But as at most fast junk food outlets, Coke machines, the rows of bags of chips, and the rubbery chicken and unappetizing beef were screaming ­ unhealthy, stay away.

You could order a salad, or a vegetarian sandwich. The chain markets seven subs with six grams of fat or less.

But for the most part, the staple of this franchise is processed meats and cheeses, soft drinks and chips.

Subway sandwiches include such classics as Steak and Cheese, Subway Melt (a first class blend of turkey breast, ham, crispy bacon, and melted cheese) Italian BMT (pepperoni, genoa salami, and ham) and the Cold Cut Trio (turkey based ham, salami, and bologna) ­ not your typical heart healthy sandwiches.

Should members of Congress and the American Heart Association be promoting this multinational junk food company?

Of course they shouldn't.

The American Heart Association has sullied its reputation by getting in bed with whatever corporation comes around with its checkbook open.

According to a report from the Center for Science in the Public Interest, the American Heart Association has taken big corporate cash from a long list of drug companies, junk food companies, and even from the National Livestock and Meat Board, which gave $189,000 to sponsor a HeartRide cycling series "to help ensure that people don't think that AHA recommends abstaining from meat."

In return for endorsing only Bayer aspirin, AHA gets $500,000 a year from Bayer. Nice deal, if you can cut it.

And how much money has Subway kicked in?

According to the AHA, Subway has given $4 million to the American Heart Association (AHA) since 2002, and will gave an additional $6 million through 2007. That's a total of $10 million.

In exchange, Subway gets to put the AHA "fighting heart disease and stroke" logo on its materials throughout its chain of stores, according to an AHA spokesperson.

In a written statement, the AHA said it will only accept sponsorships from "those restaurants that have a public/market positioning associated with healthy foods or have heart-healthy and non-fried food alternatives on the menu."

"Subway actively promotes low-saturated fat meal options and exercise in their advertising messages," the AHA said in the statement. "Their messaging reinforces that a well-balanced diet and exercise are important tools in maintaining a healthy weight."

We agree with Commercial Alert's Gary Ruskin that it's "not the proper role of the federal government or public health groups to hawk Subway or any other form of fast or junk food."

"This is part of the broader story of the corruption of the American public health movement," Ruskin said. "AHA ought to drop its support for Subway. They have been converted into an auxiliary marketeer for Subway. They are apparently for sale."

"The fast food companies are running in a panic over the obesity epidemic," Ruskin said. "They are striving to do something to make it seem that they are not responsible for it or part of it. This is just one more way that companies like Subway try to hide their tracks and boost their public relation images."

The government and independent public health organizations should be helping the American people fight off the hyperbreeding of fast food outlets cannibalizing the country ­ not promoting it.

In addition to promoting his beloved Subway and making millions a year doing so, DeLuca wants to bring an Indian gambling casino to Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Call it the junk food/junk economy connection.

According to Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, DeLuca invested $10 million in the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation's successful effort to gain federal recognition so they could build a casino in Connecticut. Blumenthal is challenging that recognition.

And the House Government Reform Committee is in the middle of an investigation of how the Schaghticoke Tribe and the Eastern Pequots gained such recognition from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Earlier this year, the Hartford Courant reported that a rival band of Indians charged that the federal recognition of the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation "was hijacked by outside investors and high-priced lobbyists intent on winning a lucrative gambling franchise for their own benefit."

Whether or not the investors and lobbyists hijacked the process we'll leave to federal investigators.

But what is clear is that Subway and DeLuca have hijacked the American Heart Association, Congresswoman DeLauro, and various federal agencies to promote their own brand of fast junk food.

Russell Mokhiber is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Corporate Crime Reporter, http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com. Robert Weissman is editor of the Washington, D.C.-based Multinational Monitor, http://www.multinationalmonitor.org. They are co-authors of Corporate Predators: The Hunt for MegaProfits and the Attack on Democracy (Monroe, Maine: Common Courage Press; http://www.corporatepredators.org).

(c) Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman

This article is posted at: http://lists.essential.org/pipermail/corp-focus/2004/000181.html

[BobS]

"The last time I watched, Subway weighed their meat portions as they loaded the sandwich."

Not for me. All women know the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Chat them up and get them feeling nice. They will make a big fat sandwich for you so you will return and talk with them some more. It's great fun! You know what to do.

[twidle]

"Another liberal slam at consumer choice. If I want to eat tasty food, I'm made to feel guilty. The food nazis would make us all eat salad, tofu and drink evian bottled water "

Just shows your paranoia. If you want to die young, do it!! Ignorance is not bliss. Advertisement by American Heart Association logo on Subway sandwiches are "lying" to you about how healthy these sandwiches are. Poster is trying to tell you to eat carefully in order to be healthy and live longer. If you have a better trade off, that is your choice, like Pleasure is more important than health. That's a good arguement if you do no do it too often. Doing it to often could shorten or make your lifeless interesting and painful (fat is not fun for most of us).

I must admit too, another ploy in this post is that the author seems to be bashing big business SEC of Subway for trying to get more sales (steal business from other Sub businsseses), make more money on FALSE ADVERTISEMENT that Subway is good for your heartby paying AHA thousands of dollars to post the AHA logo on their probably unhealthy sandwiches.

The author is a liberal (or socialist) that edits Washington DC "Crime Reporter" and writes about Corporate Predators who use their ill gotten big bucks from false advertising to lure casinos of Indians by paying off politicians for rights which belong to Indians (in Connecticut) where his corporate office is located. The mentioning of Bayer aspirin is pointing out that Bayer is Advertising to child Hemophiliacs on TV, new medication Bayer has developed, telling hemophiliacs they can play basketball if they take their meds. You decide for yourself if you do no not like this information, ignore it, but not by calling people Nazi's. The Nazi is you for not being able to see through the target of this message.

Nobody cares if you want to die sooner.That is your choice. Go ahead and eat and spend your money on unhealthy food and meds and benifit Big Business, not the Nazis.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

I can see the hemophilia connection.

However, parents must remember the cautionary tale of Reyes Syndrome. Children under twelve should not take aspirin.

[twidle]

"I find your criterion for insanity to be rather premature"

NOPE, Cvenger I am inclined to agree with this poster re your sanity. I have read many of your former posts and feel you seem to have special animosity for homosexuals and am not surprised that you misread this advertisment then posted at least ten(10) posts about it trying to clear up your misconception. Seems like overdoing it. when you could have checked it out yourself instead of bringing up a controversial issue as this. Do you really believe that a company like Bayer aspirin would print such a message? If so, then your opinion is at least not normal and at most reveals your ill concept of homophobics. Feel you need to consider rationality of your focus on this topic.

[twidle]

"Overcome Homophobia"American Heritage® Dictionary: Description of homophobia
NOUN: 1. Fear of or contempt for lesbians and gay men. homophobe, homophobic
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Homophobic Definition - Free Online Dictionary: TheFreeDictionary.com
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[Trust but Verify]

I appreciate Subway. I know exactly how many calories I am eatting without having to worry about hidden fat and its extra calories.

I feel the same way. I wonder how many of the people griping about the sandwiches not being big enough are in as good shape as those of us who do not think a 1000 calorie sandwich is better?

[Vinnie]

Subway is the worst, followed by Jersey Mike's.

Quiznos is much better.

[ko_kyi]

"You misread.
The commercial is about hemophilia. A hereditary bleeding disorder."

Somehow I visualized Roseanne Rosannadanna saying "Never mind!"

[ko_kyi]

"What's wrong with violins on television?"

[Pablo64]

"Ya ever heard of coupons? Buy one get one free, and half off are in almost every newspaper, every week."

I don't get any newspapers. Haven't for years. Also, I'm not going to carry around a wad of coupons on the off chance that I might stop somewhere for lunch. If I'm willing to patronize an establishment they should give me their best price just for walking in. I can chose to take it or leave it.

[Pablo64]

" Worth every penny. I don't go often, but it is definitely worth it to me,

And that's the deciding factor. For me, it's not worth the extra cost.

[napscoordinator]

And that's the deciding factor. For me, it's not worth the extra cost.


I certainly can respect that!

[kylaka]

Yeah, you can do that. It's your money, at least for awhile. My wife showed me the value of coupons, because her family needed them to survive. She routinely walks out of grocery stores with 200 - 250 dollars worth of stuff, for 30 - 50 bucks. It is an art, so to speak. If I hadn't seen it her do it so many times I wouldn't have believed it possible.

[Pablo64]

That's a great talent if you can do it. My wife and I tried to do the coupon thing when we were first married and were "dirt poor" but we found a couple of things working against us. First, the coupons we found were hardly ever for the items or brands that we buy, which meant that to use them we would have to buy a brand we didn't neccessarily like, or an item we probably wouldn't have bought anyway (not much of a reason to use a coupon). Secondly, we read how people were making out like bandits with coupons by taking advantage of special double and triple coupon days at the stores. Well, that's all well and good if the stores in your area actually have double/triple coupon days or policies. We've never lived anywhere where any of the grocery stores did that. We always heard people on tv talk about it or read about it in the "thrifty hints" column in newspapers or magazines, but it just never happened where we lived.

So instead of coupons, we figured out other ways to make the budget stretch farther and we pretty much just use coupons once in a great while, like when a special sale flyer comes in the mail and we happen to notice one for something we routinely buy anyway.

[bigdcaldavis]

They have some really good veggies. When I get a foot-long sweet onion chicken teriyaki sub, I get it on whole wheat bread, and I get green peppers, banana peppers, lettuce, onions, and pickles. Even with all those veggies on there, I can eat a foot-long in one sitting.