“eating Fresh” in America: Subway Restaurant’s Nutritional Rhetoric

Increasingly, many American fast food restaurants are marketing their food as being healthier, often by introducing new menu items that have less fat, fewer calories, and that fit into a broader range of nondiscretionary categories of the food pyramid. However, no fast food restaurant has focused on the “healthiness” of its products to the extent that Subway Restaurant has over the past near decade. In 2000, the restaurant’s famous “Jared” campaign first shared the story of Jared Fogle, who lost 245 pounds in one year by following a diet that consisted primarily of Subway sandwiches (“The Subway Diet”). This campaign’s influence on consumers was clear, as it was followed by a one-year sales increase of 47.5% for the restaurant (McGrath and MacMillan 159). The campaign advertised seven types of subs that contain six grams of fat or less—although the restaurant’s menu includes not-so-healthy items as well. While Subway’s sales continue to grow rapidly (and with Jared still appearing in many of its commercials), America’s obesity rates also are increasing at a shocking pace. The role that popular restaurants such as Subway play in theAmerican diet is important to consider in contemplating the obesity crisis, as Americans currently consume about one-third of their daily calories while dining out (Jacobson). To understand how restaurants like Subway influence the American diet, it is critical to examine their advertising strategies in order to ascertain specifically how their advertisements work to persuade potential customers. In particular, the increasingly common “healthy” fast food ads must be analyzed in terms of their potential to misguide viewers about the nutritional benefits of consuming fast food. A recent study performed by Chandon andWansink indicates that the average Subway diner has been misled by the restaurant’s commercials, even if this is unintentional on Subway’s part. As a result of an effect Chandon and Wansink have designated the “health halo,” customers extend the “healthiness” of a selection of Subway’s sandwiches to apply to all subs that the restaurant serves, even if a sub has additional, less-healthy toppings such as mayonnaise and other sauces that add to the fat and caloric content. The study shows that a person eating a Subway meal will estimate that it has, on average, 151 fewer calories than aMcDonald’s meal—when, in actuality, it has approximately the same number. The investigation also finds that people ordering a foot-long Italian BMT sandwich at Subway are much more likely to add higher-calorie drinks and cookies to their meal than people who order a McDonald’s Big Mac, even though the Subway sandwich actually has twice the caloric value of the burger. In other words, the average person who eats at Subway believes that the “healthiness” of the sandwiches there compensates for the relative “unhealthiness” of side dishes such as cookies: by choosing to eat what they perceive to be a healthy meal, Subway diners feel that they have earned the right to consume additional items that they believe to be less healthy. This type of research has made clear that the advertising methods used by Subway somehow have played an important role in distorting customers’ perceptions of the nutritional content of the restaurant’s products. The connection between exposure to fast food advertising and gaining weight is difficult to conclusively examine, but a 2006 study performed by Chou, Rashad, and Grossman suggests that a relationship does exist between viewing more fast food commercials and being over-