Mendoza School of Business

Jared who? How Subway will reposition its brand after child porn scandal

Published: August 20, 2015 / Author: Samantha Masunaga



James O’Rourke IV, management teaching professor and the Arthur F. and Mary J. O’Neil Director of the Fanning Center for Business Communication, spoke to the Los Angeles Times about Subway’s response to federal charges against former spokesman Jared Fogle. His comments are listed below. Read the entire story on the Times website. 

“You’re never going to see him again,” O’Rourke said. “Every one of these spokesmen comes with a liability clause. You do your best to manage that.”

Subway’s advertising has already moved away from telling the story of Fogle’s weight loss to focusing on their franchises and the notion that a local business is making lunch for its neighbors, he said. 

“They’re trying to position themselves not as a large multinational brand,” O’Rourke said. “They’ve moved in a very different direction with the advertising.”