Subway

Subway continues to deal with the public relations fallout from their $5 Footlongs. The trouble started when Matt Corby decided to measure one of the "Footlongs" and, to his chagrin, realized the featured sandwiched were literally coming up short. Corby took his discovery to Facebook and posted a photo on the chain's page. The photo resulted in thousands of "Likes" and comments from Subway fans all over the world.

Subway, to its credit, addressed the issue. The chain told Corby, "[T]his bread is not baked to our standards."

Subway is also saying the length of the bread is apt to change when it is being baked. This is nothing new. Go into McDonald's and, when ordering a Quarter Pounder, The menu featured behind the counter will remind you that the weight of the Quarter Pounder is "Before Cooking".

In addition to the bread's length being suspect, let's not forget American Airlines. The airline many years ago decided to remove one olive from each salad served on its flights, saving $40,000 each year. The move soon grew to removing meals altogether. Subway could regain some lost goodwill by providing food on flights to hungry passengers at a substantial (no pun intended) discount but I digress.

Many people are wondering why Corby has a vendetta against the chain. Why would someone be so upset about a sandwich being an inch shorter than advertised. It's not like Subway is the first company to advertise something that isn't exactly what it claims to be. That may be the case but what if I put it this way. If you were to go to your local subway and order a $5 Footlong and only pay $4.50, would there be a problem? If the person behind the counter said you were short, could you say, "It's only 50 cents. What's the problem?"?

Subway thought it had a way to save some money. They got caught. It's up to them to make it right.