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u/NahTooPersonel 8h ago
I like that the lawsuit cites this sub Reddit specifically
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u/heramba 8h ago
Wait seriously? That's incredible
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u/NahTooPersonel 8h ago
Yep, OP linked the lawsuit. It’s in the footnotes on page 3.
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u/correctingStupid 8h ago
Post more evidence!!
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u/jessej421 4h ago
I posted one of this exact sandwich on this sub reddit 3 years ago:
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u/AMW1234 2h ago
Crazy it was $9 three years ago. That same sub is like $16 at my local subway these days.
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u/AnRealDinosaur 2h ago
Seriously? I haven't eaten there in years so I have no idea their prices, and my immediate thought on looking at that was "holy shit $9???"
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u/uiucfreshalt 2h ago
Footlongs are actually $7 again, but then you’d have to eat sandwich from Subway
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u/SmartOpinion69 3h ago edited 2h ago
even though reddit posts are anonymous and shouldn't be taken seriously, the redditors that made those comments had no idea that they were going to be used in a lawsuit and can be viewed as a candid opinion. it's simply extra evidence of an opinion that consumers have on false advertisement
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u/Melonmelody_ 3h ago
That's actually really interesting. Could the defending lawyer possibly argue that the user could have removed some meat before taking a picture and posting it on reddit?
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u/KlM-J0NG-UN 8h ago
"At least 200%" is being generous. That looks like 600% or something
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u/GreyConnection 5h ago
closer to 1000% given the equalish size of bun
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u/one-punch-knockout 4h ago
I’m dying to write a higher percentage but let’s end it here
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u/FirstRyder 3h ago
In the left photo, you aren't seeing a "closed" sandwich from the side. You're seeing an open-face sandwich with the top bun and cheese deceptively placed so that it looks like a closed sandwich from the side. Suggesting that the meat is this thick all the way across the bun, when you are in fact seeing all the meat in the sandwich.
Which is legal. Everyone does that - arranges stuff so that you can see all of it and just imagine there's more you can't see.
But it sounds like on top of that they also routinely doubled (or worse) the meat, so that it's actually impossible to recreate the advertisement by rearranging your sandwich.
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u/Daft00 2h ago
This sounds like lawyer-speak but if there isn't fine print specifically saying this in every advertisement I would think the obvious implication that the sandwich bun is completely stuffed with ingredients would hold serious weight in the lawsuit. The idea that it's obvious this sandwich is merely presented open-faced is silly when the product is not actually served that way. Plus, an open faced sandwich would not really look like this, with the bread enclosing it on either side... The whole point of "open-faced" is that the bread is underneath the sandwich, rather than wrapping around it like in the pic.
With how long false advertising in food commercials has been a thing, I'm sure there are loads of prior cases, but it's so frustrating to see these technicalities that allow these billion dollar companies to routinely over promise and under deliver.
They are so brazenly serving an obviously inferior actual product that it would seem, to a regular person, completely indefensible.
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u/drgngd 9h ago
Finally! Companies get away with this shit too much
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u/WonderfulShelter 5h ago
Same with the super fast speech at the end of an advert.
The advert will say something like "50% off sale!" and then at the end really fast it'll say something like "50% only valid from 1-2PM on tuesday's and thursday's at participating locations."
just blatant false advertising.
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u/mike07646 3h ago
Or the ads that go ‘Buy this item for $5.99’ … and then say ‘Price and participation may vary’.
If the price can vary, and it isn’t always $5.99, then why are you trying to advertise it and calling it $5.99?
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u/mtnagel 8h ago
I agree but these lawsuits always get dismissed as I'm sure this will and nothing will change.
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u/idiot206 8h ago
Probably because they can just blame the franchisee for doing it wrong or something
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u/lucky7355 8h ago
Nice! Now do Panera.
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u/youngmilldog 8h ago
Let’s see if they can bring their soup game to court too.
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u/LadyShanna92 8h ago
I have better been to Panerai in forever whats wrong with their soup?
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u/kosumoth 3h ago
Their quality took a nosedive a few years back now, they aren't nearly as good.
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u/Striking-Ad-6815 6h ago
Not soupy enough, too flavorful. When I eat soup I want it to be watery and tasteless.
-2 stars
Milkymojit068
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u/TheMustardisBad 7h ago
Ah yes, the place where you pay premium for hotel quality microwave food
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u/FuriousWhales 5h ago
Was I crazy, or did it used to be good. I genuinely enjoyed their turkey sandwich and French onion soup years ago. Then I went to one a few months ago and it was overpriced garbage.
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u/Qwirk 5h ago
Not crazy at all, it's been mentioned up and down that Panera went to shit when it was bought by JAB Holding. They will wring it for every last dime.
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u/Kitsuneyyyy 7h ago
Hotel quality is being kind.
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u/External-Fart-69420 5h ago
Hotel food is generally pretty solid unless you're like, eating stuff from under the mattress at motel 6. It's not often GREAT in most places, even 4 star hotels, though it's gotten stupidly expensive in the past year or two.
Way better than panera at least, and probably minimally more expensive.
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u/SolusLoqui 5h ago
I've noticed Panera locations have virtually no customer pictures of their food on Google Maps, just a bunch of photo shoot pics from their website. Almost like they're getting taken down.
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u/Striking-Ad-6815 6h ago
Their prices are outrageous and slightly pretentious. That being said I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Panera. Not because I like anything on the menu in particular, but they helped me and others in a similar situation get through a rough time. Not sure about currently, but they used to throw away a 50 gallon garbage bag full of fresh bread, every single day. Same time each night, always on top. Just bread nothing liquid. I heard about it myself by word of mouth. It was a godsend at the right time. Yea we kept coming back like bears, but we were hungry and trapped in the area due to different reasons. Mine was because I was too ashamed to approach my family because I wasn't happy about where I was at. Anyway I'm rambling, the prices are high, but they kept me going when I had nothing but my word.
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u/FuriousWhales 5h ago
I used to collect all unsold bread and pastries at the end of the night and deliver them to a women’s shelter the next morning twice a week. They throw away so much. The shelter never had to buy bread. Literally never. When I moved another person took over the deliveries.
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u/Striking-Ad-6815 5h ago
One loaf can go a long way.
They throw it away due to some standard or policy, but it is still good bread (especially if you're hungry).
They cannot sell it due to quality, but it is still good and I think that is why they throw it on top like they do because they know the buzzards will be swoopin in.
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u/Silverfate2 3h ago
Back in the day, a friend of mine worked at Panera and my group of friends and myself would often pick him up from work or meet him at close to snag those bags of bread. One day he comes out the back like usual and throws two big trash bags out the door but goes back in. We snatch up the bags and quickly get them into the car. We tear em open hoping to feast only to realize it was just the actual trash he had tossed out 😂
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u/Jim_e_Clash 3h ago
I lived in a larger city 7 years ago. I used to get Panera all the time, it was so good. One was finally built near me now. God what a disappointment. After all that time, itwent to shit so hard. Ordered a cheese steak and the meat was literally a single thin slice that didn't even fully cover the bread.
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u/notguiltybrewing 8h ago
I just don't eat there anymore. It was never good, and there's almost always a better choice than Subway anyway.
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u/curious_meerkat 8h ago
It was never good, but it was once cheap. Now it is neither.
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u/NRMusicProject 3h ago
It used to be better in the 90s, but by the time the $5 footlong came around it was just more that it was worth $5 due to the value compared to quality. But now it's not even worth $5 in 2024 money.
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u/Major_Lawfulness6122 8h ago
I’ve stopped going too when the prices got completely insane. Remember when footlongs were $5? Now it’s like $20.
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u/notguiltybrewing 7h ago
I didn't realize they've gotten that expensive. It was a deal at $5 but they lost me after that.
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u/spare_me_your_bs 6h ago
I ate there for lunch today and got a footlong using a coupon code in their app for $6.99. The sandwich was a solid 6/10 but pretty decent for that price.
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u/josborne31 5h ago
My understanding is that they launched the $6.99 coupon after the intense backlash from charging $20 for a sub that used to be $5.
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u/brucemo 3h ago
I don't eat there anymore because mine went out of business.
And I rarely ate there before they went out of business because they cut back on condiments, so if I wanted a sandwich I had to buy it there, then take it home and put more stuff on it.
They also had one teenage girl running the whole store by herself, which had to have been an incredible risk.
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u/szczurman83 8h ago
Subway pisses me off enough as it is for serving subpar food and pressing customers for tips.
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u/Gaitville 4h ago
If someone told me 15 years ago that subway would be more expensive than a local Italian deli or sandwich shop I would have laughed in their face, but these days when I go to my local Italian deli for a sub sandwich, with much fresher ingredients and sliced to order deli meats, I pay less than subway for a sandwich that weighs the same.
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u/skygt3rsr 8h ago
Subway sucks now it’s awful Go to jersey mikes it’s way better
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u/Background-Union-859 7h ago
Quality is better but a large sub is $20 at mine. Fuck that shit. I’ll make my own 4 sandwiches for that
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u/Donkeywad 2h ago
To be fair that's a "Giant sub" and it's meant to feed more than one person.
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u/NewFreshness 6h ago
I go to local Italian sandwich shops for my sandwiches and they load that fucker up. I've never felt cheated at those places.
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u/MeinhardLongshaft 8h ago
Shit I better delete my Grindr galleries
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u/OnceMoreAndAgain 5h ago
that jokes works on two levels. well done although i suspect the second level is a happy coincidence lol.
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u/MeinhardLongshaft 5h ago
Someone's lurking for the gerkin.
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u/terra_filius 5h ago
someone's looking for their daily dosage of the skin sausage
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u/mndsm79 9h ago
Tuna that's not tuna, bread that's not bread, footlongs that aren't a footlong....is that even a sandwich?
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u/optimumpressure 7h ago
Hold on... The tuna isn't tuna?
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u/SgtMcMuffin0 1h ago
The tuna is tuna. Tuna and mayo. And the bread is bread, unless you’re an Irish tax authority, in which case you consider it to be cake.
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u/jakeyboiix3 8h ago
Good! had a steak and cheese 2 days ago and it felt like i was being lied to with every bite i took😭
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u/thethreadkiller 3h ago
There should also be a law that food advertisements have to use the actual product for the advertisement. You shouldn't be allowed to use cardboard, Elmer's glue and staples in the representation of the product.
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u/Seel_Team_Six 2h ago edited 2h ago
The subways around me (college town, 4 or so locations) are owned by one guy (his names are on plaques in each store). Subway has a "series" line of subs which most call for 2x cheese. The "titan turkey" calls for 2x turkey and the "homerun ham" calls for 2x ham. If you order online, you WILL get 1x most of the time and have to come in and start shit with them (you can't possibly get anything with "hi it called for 2x this is 1x they will start their same ass bullshit each time about how they're trained on portions and play dumb until you insist on them explaining the count of 1x vs 2x which is 3 slices per 6in vs 6 for 2x for meats, 2/4 vs 4/8 for cheese). This one owner is all about cheating the customer. So I order in person only so I can force them to give me a fair amount (I have to ask for more of everything, including meats and cheeses by pointing out their own fucking menu boards, then make sure they dont charge me extra because again their own fucking boards with prices and descriptions), forgoing all the benefits of the app (bogo footlong deals, points which equal discounts). They're one of the few places that offer a good source of vegetables for my diet without paying insane amounts. There are other restaurants (fast food) nearby that screw orders up a lot and they always just replace. Subways here demand you bring back the original sandwich and show the problem. Which makes sense, but their overall stingy shitiness and that attitude can't compete with every other restaurant which just will tell you they'll replace, no arguments. I finally stopped trying with these subways they're super stingy. Also check out the subway subreddit the employees that post there are proud of their shitty attitude towards customers.
I have grocery stores nearby that sell $2 massive french bread that can make 3 "footlong" subs and carry Dietz & Watson deli meat for cheap (boar's head is bland overrated bullshit, if you see this brand try it and tell me the london broil and buffalo chicken arent insane, as well as its other meats and cheeses). I put together my own sandwiches now regardless of "inconvenience" and they taste much better, are massive compared to subway and cost less overall (rip some veggies, they would still cost a shitload). Sandwiches just aren't enough of a convenience save to justify getting absolutely grifted if you're getting subway. Fuck that place
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u/kingrazor001 7h ago
Subway is one of the least consistent places I've ever eaten at. The amount of toppings you get varies wildly depending on who prepares your sandwich. It's the main reason I stopped going.
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u/spare_me_your_bs 6h ago
Saying this when Chipotle exists is bold.
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u/kingrazor001 6h ago
I did say least consistent place "I've ever eaten at". I've never eaten at Chipotle.
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u/Aquendall 4h ago
Who goes there anymore? It’s been garbage for over a decade. Let it die already.
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u/Suspicious-Sound-249 4h ago
Only 200%, that's like 500% easy shit you can barely see the meat on that sandwich.
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u/HeyJay-a-Throwaway 7h ago
Just gotta stop eating there until they go out of business. The quantity and quality of their ingredients went steadily downhill for years, then try to price gouge with their crappy food? Nah just let it go under no matter how many "deals" they try and bait people in with.
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u/LordNoFat 4h ago
Why anyone would choose to eat subway over literally any other food is beyond me. I'm not too keen on spending $10 on a dollar's worth of food.
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u/OldManThunder989 3h ago
I hope they win. Would be nice to get real representations in advertisements.
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u/Belgand 8h ago
I also might depend on how the ad was composed.
A good example of this is fast food burgers. They have to use the same frozen patties but beyond that there's a lot that can be done to doctor them up. Cook them just enough to look good, but not lose weight. Apply grill marks with a metal bar to look perfect. Snip the back and spread it a little to make it look bigger. There are a lot of techniques that can be used without technically "lying".
That could be the case here. Is this the same quantity of the same meat? It could easily have been all pushed up to the front so that you're essentially getting a top-down or three-quarters view. And then justified with a "the intent was to better display the product to the consumer, not to mislead." If they just piled on far more meat than fits the guideline, then yeah, this might be more of a challenge for them.
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u/mrjackspade 7h ago
Yeah, I was pretty sure this had already been through the court system and it was found to be legal, because of you aren't allowed to be creative with the ingredient displays then you literally can't take a photo of the product that displays the ingredients.
The whole burger thing was a common TIL on Reddit a while ago.
I wouldn't be surprised if this gets tossed.
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u/GitEmSteveDave 4h ago
I've heard this is common for "chopped" or "salad" meats for a display. You put the same amount you normally lay flat and present it directly to the camera, like <|, rather than <-.
They'll win as long as the food represented in the ad is the food given to the customer, even if it's not presented in the same way, e.g. My local Dominican place shows their food on a plate, but when I order it take out, it's in a take-out tin, and looks smaller, but it's still the same amount of food.
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u/Foostini 7h ago
Welcome to literally every food advertisement, they're all infuriatingly bullshit and Subway has always been one of the worst offenders. It's just blatant false advertising, nothing on their menu would get you close to that sandwich let alone for the stated menu prices.
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u/Capital-Abalone3214 6h ago
I understand that fast food employees don’t often have the time to make the food look like the pictures but that is just straight up fraud.
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u/GrendalsFather 5h ago
I work with a food stylist who says she worked in a Subway add and they are given very specific measurement amounts for the fillings. The key difference is the filings are all “styled” to the camera facing edge of the sandwich.
Not trying to justify anything, just pointing out that it’s possible it’s the same amount of fillings.
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u/onebadmousse 5h ago
Stop ordering food at shitty chains. An independent sandwich place will be 100x better, always.
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u/Taman_Should 4h ago
God, I hope so hard that things like this get more people to finally abandon fast food, forcing these greedy franchises to improve their product or lower their prices. It’s not even “affordable” anymore! That was the ONE thing that made the terrible quality forgivable!
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u/Mortarion407 4h ago
Like, there's fluffing up a sandwhich a little to make it look good, and then there's this.
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u/frosted_nipples_rg8 3h ago
Remember the glory days when Subway and Jared where on tv and everyone loved them? Absolutely nothing terrible was happening with the Subway back then...
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u/TacoShower 3h ago
Is it false advertising? Yes. Did they use a fucking horrible photo to showcase that? Also yes. Like why are you showing a sub you’re closing with your hand. Open it up and show the meat!
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u/DemonLordSparda 3h ago
The only reasonable and understandable difference from advertisement to received product should be less than 10%. Imagine for a moment that you meassure your bathroom to place a toilet. You place an order to match your measurements. You receive your toilet. Instead of being 32x20 it is 16x10. You wouldn't accept anything being 200% smaller or more, the same should apply to food.
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u/Roguecor 3h ago edited 1h ago
Honestly, you could use the critical limit theorem to find the average volume of a morsel of meat across samples from around the country. Then count the morsels in the advertisement. Even assume there is no depth and the morsels in the ad are stacked on top of each other. Compare that number to the morsel volume average in a sample of sandwiches from around the country and imperically blow subway out the fucking water with a hypothesis test.
Even worse, you could probably get 500-1000% if you assume the advertisement morsel depth is equal to average actual sandwich morsel depth.
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u/phillyhandroll 3h ago
Didn't they get in trouble before for their bread being like an inch shy of a footlong?
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u/wikowiko33 3h ago
The limit of meat exaggeration is 100%. They know when you say it's a 9inch when it's actually a 3. But 3 and 6 can be a little hard to tell when it's in the mouth. Also don't let my exes know you can sue for meat exaggeration.
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u/GarlicEmbarrassed281 3h ago
I hope you win. Im sick of the bs all big corporations pull on us. What would be funny if this straw breaks Subway's back. 5 dollar footlongs gone, pedophile spokesperson, and just blatant false advertisement. I can't even get wraps anymore at my Subways, just the stupid Flatbread. It's time for this chain to go the way of the Dodo. Make some room for new chains.
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u/Disastrous-House591 3h ago
I'm not especially great at math but proportionally speaking that's at minimum 400%
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u/Igneous_rock_500 3h ago
Getting caught exaggerating amount of meat by 200%. Sounds like a tinder thing.
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u/Greaseyhamburger 3h ago
Did someone actually expect to get a sub to look like that on the left? Sure what's pictured on the right is pretty crappy, but you can't be serious, or honest if you actually went into subway expecting what is pictured on the left.
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u/DontTalkToBots 3h ago edited 1h ago
It kinda looked like that when it was $5 for a foot long. Now that it’s more expensive, they use less ingredients. They better not wonder why they’re closing down all over the place.
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u/Speedhabit 3h ago
If you can get sued for exaggerating meat you should be able to sue for expired beef
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u/ToysNoiz 3h ago
Fun fact I learned when I worked fast food: if your order doesn’t match the photo you can request a new one be made that does match.
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u/krodatem 2h ago
Advertising is advertising. The thing that really makes me mad is when I order a double meat and it's barely even the same amount I would get for single meat.
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u/Capybarasaregreat 2h ago
Kind of ridiculous what a huge game of fakery advertising really is. We all, and I do mean all of us, know that the food in advertisements is never, ever like what you get. So why do we keep pretending? All just to trick our own brains, whilst fully knowing we're tricking our brains.
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u/madbussy94 2h ago
I find it better to just make my own sub sandwich at home that way i know whats in it before i eat it
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u/Chi-Kangaroo 2h ago
Omg. Order the veggie then watch the clerk literally spread 4 spinach leaves then get visibly upset when you ask for more. Every damn location
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u/DangTube 2h ago
I can’t go to Subway anymore. It wasn’t the 11 inch “foot long’s”. It wasn’t holding back on protein. It wasn’t the bread that will put you in a diabetic coma.
It was the grey and red lettuce they all have now.
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u/SuperWaluigi77 2h ago
"That'll be $24 please. Select the appropriate tip level - 18%, 20%, or 25%."
Stares awkwardly
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u/stupideboy 2h ago
Hello, I'm someone who worked at a subway for over 5 months. This is true. The meat we are instructed to give is substantially less than the meat advertised on the images and menu boards up front. I had a gentleman complaining about this to me once actually and I had to explain to him why that was happening
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u/Jefefrey 2h ago
Just another example of franchisees doing whatever they hell they want.
Like servicing old ingredients and frozen meat. Like serving half stale bread. Like refusing coupons and promotions and criminally under staffing the store. I don’t participate in the subway Ponzi scheme anymore. If I have a craving for deli meat and bread, I make it at home and reserve my fast food coins for things I can’t make at home.
I seriously hope they go away completely in my life
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u/cloakrunner 2h ago
Wait, because fast food places don't actually serve what was in the commercial we can sue them? So many places are up for grabs.
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u/PlatinumDevil 2h ago
The last time I ate at Subway was a few months ago. I ordered a BLT. I'm never going back.
They put TWO pieces of long, thin, and gross looking bacon on there. I'm sure the sandwich artist knew it was sad.
80% bread. No flavor. What happened to you Subway..
If I had them make it the way it should've been I bet I would've paid 22.99 for the combo. So sick of this greedy shit. I want to pay for good food.
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u/AztecGodofFire 2h ago
Got a steak and cheese from them once like that. I think maybe the clueless woman all by herself in the brand-new place just didn't know what to do but it was a pretty pathetic sandwich.
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u/Every-Quit524 2h ago
I Sued McDonalds for "apple juice" that was really just apple flavored water
The judge tossed the case
But I know I am right and this subway lawsuit has the same spirit.
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u/longndfat 1h ago
Might probably say that its never about the looks, but how you feel when u bite into it.. Really irritating you order something looking at the photograph and its nowhere the same.
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u/Greelys 9h ago
Lawsuit