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HomeUncategorizedStung by Jared Fogle Sex Scandal, Subway seeks space from spokesman

Stung by Jared Fogle Sex Scandal, Subway seeks space from spokesman

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Sandwich chain Subway for more than 15 years tied its fortunes to spokesman Jared Fogle and his outsized 60-inch waist jeans.

That once-successful relationship has dragged the privately held restaurant chain into a child sex and pornography scandal, but branding experts say Subway should be able to distance itself from public anger after Fogle asked a federal judge on Wednesday to accept his guilty plea on charges of possessing child pornography and traveling for illicit paid sex with minors.

Fogle was a college student when he lost 245 pounds eating Subway sandwiches and exercising. He seemed a perfect pitchman – an everyman who won the often-difficult battle of the bulge.

Starting in 2000, he appeared in hundreds of commercials and represented the sandwich chain at restaurants and other events. In 2008, Subway and Fogle celebrated the 10th anniversary of his weight loss with a “Tour de Pants.” Now, the 37,000-unit global chain has cut ties with Fogle.

The partnership helped nurture a period of explosive growth at Subway, which now has more units than any other restaurant chain and was on the leading edge of the move toward fresher, healthier food, before overbuilding, competition, changing consumer tastes and other factors contributed to an estimated 3.3 per cent sales decline in 2014.

“They did a good job of brain tattooing that relationship,” said Karen Post, a branding expert and author of “Brand Turnaround: How Brands Gone Bad Returned to Glory.”

“Customers are forgiving to a degree. They know that Jared’s mistakes do not represent the core of the company … but 15 years is a long time,” said Post.

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