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We regularly see actors on commercials claiming to have had their
migraines, diarrhea, psoriasis, hemorrhoids, halitosis, depression, colds, and
flatulence cured by some new and/or improved miracle potion that is up to 10
percent more effective than the other leading brand, the liquid or capsule
answer to a visit from Glenda the Good Witch. We don’t know what these
performers actually promote once the cameras have stopped rolling, nor can we
be sure they actually suffer these accursed ailments. We see Britney Spears
hawking Pepsi, though (at least according to official request documents
obtained by the Web site The Smoking Gun) she requires that a number of Coca-
Cola products be available backstage at her shows. It’s a mixed-up muddled-up
shook-up world out there in TV land, where money puts words into the mouths of
influential people, celebs, jocks, nameless ravishing beauties, and unknown
comics; words that might never have been there without significant financial
remuneration.
And then there is Jared Fogle. He’s the once-morbidly-bese, now-
thin-and-ultra-chipper spokesman for Subway Sandwiches’ low-fat menu. He
claims to have lost 245 pounds — over half his body weight — by walking and
eating nothing but a steady diet of Subway sandwiches and baked potato chips.
It sounds like just another marketing ploy cooked up around a conference table
by smartly appointed advertising types in black outfits and chunky designer
eyewear. But no. Before he started munching chicken and veggie-sandwiches
Fogle really did weigh nearly half a metric ton. Now he’s long and gangly.
Thanks to a combination of fortitude and good fortune Fogle is the rarest of
TV spokespersons: He’s the real-meal deal.
Fogle stopped in Memphis recently during a promo tour for
Subway.
Flyer: Did you set out on this diet hoping to become
the TV spokesperson for Subway?
Jared Fogle: Halfway through the diet, around the fall of
1998, my mom wrote a letter to Subway. Never got a response. Maybe the letter
got lost in the mail, I don’t know, but it never got a response. I didn’t
think Subway was going to care anyway and that just reinforced it for me. But
that was okay because I was doing this for me.
You stress the importance of walking as part of your weight-
loss program. How far away did you live from Subway?
I actually shared a wall with them. They were right next door.
Obviously I was eating a lot of Subway as it was, just not the low-fat. I was
eating the steak-and-cheese and the meatball and stuff like that.
So you didn’t get the exercise actually walking to
Subway?
No.
Good thing they didn’t put in a Pizza Hut or
something.
Yeah.
So how did you eventually hook up with Subway?
A friend of mine who wrote for [the Indiana University] newspaper
wrote a story about me. He hadn’t seen me for eight or nine months, so I was
close to the end of the diet, and he didn’t recognize me. This happened all
the time — people I knew wouldn’t recognize me because it was such a dramatic
weight loss. Anyway he thought it was the neatest thing and wanted to write a
story about it. That got everything snowballing. They are a big enough paper
that the story went out over the AP wire and got picked up all around the
country: Portland, Oregon, San Diego, Boston. Shortly after that I got a call
from Subway’s national advertising agency.
Do you still eat only at Subway?
I don’t. I mean I eat at Subway a couple of times a week, but
I’ve had the weight off for two years now. When I’m going to have fast food I
eat there, because I don’t like the grease or the heaviness of your typical
fast food. But I eat what I want now; I just don’t eat the quantities.
Now for a math question. Let’s say I want to lose 50 pounds by
walking to and eating at Subway three times a day. I live five miles from
Subway, but only work five blocks from Subway. How long before I lose the 50
pounds?
That’s the frustrating part. I don’t say to go out and do exactly
what I did. For some people it might not take any time at all; but for some
people it could cause more problems than it helps. You need to talk to a
doctor first because your body could react badly to it.
