How Subway Pissed Me Off

Prior to this incident, I was one of Subway’s most loyal customers. Really. For an entire semester in college I had a Subway sandwich for dinner every day. It wasn’t even a bet or anything; I just sincerely liked the sandwiches that much. They’re pretty delicious, reasonably priced, and with a little bit of care in what you order, healthy. And yet all that loyalty was smashed to bits with a single ill-conceived ad campaign.

I’m sure most readers will be familiar with Subway’s “Ultimate Turkey Bacon Avocado” sandwich they’ve been pushing recently. I’ve seen billboards, print ads, tv and radio commercials for it. The images show a sandwich overflowing with avocado, and the radio spots describe it as having “mounds of frothy avocado.” I’m sure on that, because I remember thinking I didn’t really want my avocado to be frothy.

The sandwich has the same damn tiny smear of avocado that you can get on any sandwich for a dollar. In fact, the whole sub is actually just their regular turkey footlong with bacon and avocado added. They don’t give you more of anything or charge you any less.

I felt deceived.

The fact that the sandwich is the same sandwich you could always get isn’t the biggest deal for me. I would expect a little more than you could always get, or maybe knock $.50 off the price, but either way, that’s not the major problem.

What really bothers me is how they portrayed the sandwich. There were no mounds of avocado. It wasn’t frothy, which frankly is fine by me, because what the hell would that even mean? Still though, don’t call it frothy if it’s not. Don’t call a thin smear “mounds.” Don’t call something “ultimate” when it’s been around forever, or available only “for a limited time” when it surely will continue to be an option indefinitely.

Also, the TV commercials imply that their avocado spread/guacamole is homemade. It’s not. It is okay with me that it’s not, but they should stop implying that it is. It comes out of a plastic container, quite possibly the same ones I buy at Costco.

I’ve overlooked a lot with Subway over the years, but this is the straw that broke the camel’s sandwich-bearing back. From now on I’m going to Capriotti’s. It’s a little further away and costs a little more, but the quality is unrivaled and, most importantly, they deliver what they promise.

Looking to the future, here’s what Subway could do to win me back. Kill the misleading ad campaign immediately, and bring back the v-cut. Remember how until about 10 years ago they would cut their bread down the middle, fill it up with yummy goodness, then put the bread back on top? I loved that, and they never gave a satisfactory reason for why they stopped cutting their bread that way. They claimed it was too hard to fit everything inside, but I don’t buy that. I usually get double meat and 6 or 7 toppings (depending upon whether I feel like onions), and that all fit no problem.

They could probably even win me back just be killing the misleading campaign, really. I did think it was good value for the money. I guess I just feel betrayed, like they lied to me.