Summary
Anna Tollison has filed a class action lawsuit against Subway, claiming its Steak & Cheese sandwich is falsely advertised to appear as if it contains 200% more meat than it actually does.
Tollison alleges that Subway’s misleading advertising causes consumers to overpay, which is concerning due to inflation.
Her lawyer said that while such cases often face dismissal, if this one proceeds, it could lead to compensation and class certification, allowing affected customers to seek refunds for the alleged misrepresentation.
When I was a kid, HBO did a special for kids about deceptive advertising practices- imagine that today. They did a whole segment on food photography and showed people doing things like making ice cream out of vegetable shortening and food coloring. The whole thing fascinated me.
Edit: Found it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaVM2XG4wvE Apparently it was originally a Consumer Reports thing and this is the VHS version. But I saw it on HBO and HBO made a big deal out of it at the time.
Damn… it’s amazing how well I remember this despite not having seen it since probably 1990.
I thought ice cream (and a lot of other thing in the ads) was usually mashed potatoes.
I don’t know. Not according to that guy in the show.
We had a curriculum in school identifying different types of propaganda in advertising. They had us bring in ads from magazines and sort through how they were trying to sell us things. Likewise, I can’t imagine that still being taught today. Seems like it would be one of the first casualties of the modern American way of defunding education.
We learned things a long those lines a couple times when I was in highschool not that long ago, but I also went to a weird highschool so I’m not sure how much that generalizes
Was that a special on HBO or was it a segment on Dave Coulier’s Out of Control (which is where I personally was first exposed to the idea)?
I loved that show too, but no. Definitely the special I linked to.
Incidentally, Diz McNally from that show used to run a newsstand at Hollywood and Vine in L.A. for years. I would see her all the time when I lived nearby.