Let me start this post by saying right off the bat that I I do not eat at Subway. I used to, and enjoyed the sandwiches back when I ate there. But I stopped eating there and, admittedly, it was not because of anything in this John Oliver video. It had nothing to do with Jared, either, because at the time, nobody knew how much of a creep he was. In fact, he was still their spokesperson at the time.
No, the reason that I stopped eating at Subway was for another reason entirely. During the height of the French-bashing back in the early 2000's, Americans (many of both the liberal and conservative persuasion) relentlessly engaged in xenophobic attacks against all things French. Stereotypes of the French as rude, as pretentious, as having foul hygiene, of dog crap every few hundred steps in Paris, of hating Americans, and especially as cowardly, were everywhere. Many people tried to boycott all French products, and some poured French wine down sewers. The word French itself was censored, as a word and as a concept, and with stunning irony, was replaced with the word "freedom." So yes, French fries and French toast was replaced with freedom fries and freedom toast. I made a point of never doing business with some of the businesses that engaged in this behavior, as much as I could. Prior to all of this, I used to think of Fuddruckers as a fun place to eat. After they changed the name of their fries, they lost my patronage forever. I'm sure that it's not a big deal to them, but that's just where I stand.
Subway does not have fries or breakfast toast, so they did not change their names of any of their products, to my knowledge. However, they came out with a commercial about a new chicken sandwich. They called it their French chicken sandwich, as I recall (French was definitely in the title. The problem was that, in the promotional commercial, they jokingly suggested that French and chicken just went together. Of course, Subway feigned ignorance when confronted by what sure seemed like a clear contribution to the French bashing. Everybody knows what being chicken is supposed to mean. But Subway suggested that they were simply referring to France's rich culinary tradition.
Yeah, right.
Given that this came at the height of the French bashing, it was hardly a veiled attempt to add a little bit of light humor in order to promote their stupid sandwich. Despite Subway officials sounding shocked - Shocked! - at any insinuation that they were contributing to the whole ugly and intolerant French-bashing spirit of the times that prevailed in those days, when the whole world seemed opposed to the unjustifiable invasion of Iraq that the Bush administration was aggressively pining for and eventually got (and, as everyone remembers, their justification for the war against Iraq proved to be filled with disgusting lies and deliberate disinformation).
So I personally stopped eating at Subway right away. Other people could eat there. I was not trying to be preachy, or anything. But let's just say, I lost my appetite for them. Seemingly forever. And while I did not feel particularly happy when some of the PR disasters that seemed to line up to hit Subway later on, particularly regarding that guy Jared, I nevertheless also did not feel much sympathy towards them, either.
However, this video recently released by John Oliver shows some horrendous business practices by Subway. Watch this video, and whether or not you feel anywhere near as strongly about what felt like their active participation in the anti-French campaign, you might still feel compelled to never go to a Subway restaurant again. I had heard that they had overtaken McDonald's as the most numerous fast food chain in the United States, and possibly the world. But it always remained a mystery to me why it did not feel like this could actually be the case. Most people do not seem to talk about having gone to Subway, or going to Subway nearly as often as they do Micky D's which, incidentally, is another fast food chain that I try and make a point of not eating at (it's been over a decade since I went to one, as well, mostly because they seem like a monster that has taken over).
Please watch the video and see for yourself. This really is a nightmare of a restaurant chain, apparently. And the bad news that seems attached to the hip of Subway is not just accidental. Their business practices almost assure that things will go wrong for them and that, even still, they will still keep popping up left and right, like unsightly weeds in a garden.
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