by Joan Inong

Created on: June 20, 2009

Subway foods are not as good as advertised. This is not the sour opinion of a grumpy customer who was once cheated by just one Subway restaurant. In fact, this opinion has been formulated throughout the years.

Before the advent of the Jared diet, Subway did not really target the "weight-loss crowd." In fact, it was just a submarine sandwich place, and it wasn't even in the same ballpark as Quizno's, which dominated one particular part of the submarine sandwich industry (i.e., toasted subs). But, Subway had its falling out even before the Jared commercials.

If you look closely at the Subway commercials and advertising, you will see really thick sandwiches. You think to yourself, "I want something like that." Something full of meat and vegetables-a really hearty sandwich that is very much worth the price tag.

Yet, you visit your local Subway and what do you get? You do get a good quality bread, but what do they stuff that bread with? A lot of lettuce and very little meat or cheese. In other words, fluff. All the advertising and commercials? They are marketing fluff. This critique would have been more difficult to admit if Subway had corrected its ways after the beginnings of the Jared era, but it didn't.

Instead, the marketing tactics worsened. Subway was now targeting a particular industry: the weight loss industry, and used Jared as the main marketing tool. If he could lose that much weight by just eating Subway sandwiches, then you will too. But, there is obviously a catch: who would be able to eat a Subway sandwich for every meal every day of the week? Who could live on the same meal every day? Nonetheless, the pictures of the sandwiches remained the same; they looked perfect on the ads and on televisions, but when you had a sandwich made, it looked minimal.

Once you visit other sub sandwich places, you can immediately tell the difference. Take a look at Subway's competitors: Potbelly's and Quizno's, and you will tell the difference in size, price, and taste. Subway's competitors offer more in terms of size and taste, and the prices are relatively the same and rather cheap.

Can Subway redeem itself? Probably, but only if it manages to tell all of its franchise owners that they should start making sandwiches that look more like what they advertise. Once that happens, Subway can then begin to compete again, and might have a chance at winning a huge following.

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