Eat Fresh..... Not Really

For my post I think it's fitting I talk about my first job working at a Subway in my hometown. This was a very stereotypical first job as I was paid minimum wage and it generally sucked, but maybe the worse part was seeing people who thought they were making healthy choices gobble down a foot of bread, meat, and cheese.

To start with (and some of you may have guessed this) nothing is fresh as Subway advertises. Everything comes processed in a plastic packaging except for the green peppers and cucumbers if I remember correctly. Although it's not fresh there are still healthy options available, but through my few years there it seemed that people thought that by walking through the doors of a Subway they had already made their healthy choice and now could order whatever they wanted. Some would proceed to order footlong meatball subs still somehow under the illusion that this was a healthy decision. And of course as most people in the service industry we were expected to up sell: six inches to footlongs, double meat, double cheese, one of which were usually met with a nonchalant "sure why not". I remember one lady in particular that would come in every Sunday while I was working, order a footlong double meat BLT (that's 16 pieces of bacon) with extra cheese and extra mayo who would then comment on how much healthier this place is better than some burger joint.

So how has Subway disguised itself as a place of health and well being? What "instruments" have they used to create this reality? It all comes back to their advertising and as I'm sure everyone remembers the campaign of "Jared the Subway Guy". Some average looking everyday guy that went from being morbidly obese to healthy by eating Subway for every meal. What Subway forgets to mention is that although Jared did lose this weight by eating their food it was through eating the actual healthy options available and even more importantly in small portions. We all know our American culture has a severe problem with portions and Subway further exemplifies this with its footlong sandwiches a concept many non Americans probably find to be disgusting. When the monologue of Jared is then combined with the appearances of super star athletes like Michael Strahan and Michael Phelps they firmly write the reality that they are a healthy option and even a flag bearer in the fight against the obesity epidemic in this country when they are really just another fast food joint.