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.

  • @[email protected]
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    79 hours ago

    Don’t those photos always have a small print disclaimer on them that says the actual product may not look like that or something along those lines? Is that enough to protect them in a lawsuit?

  • Admiral Patrick
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    16 hours ago

    Not defending Subway, but food advertisement / photography uses all sorts of dirty tricks to make it look more appealing. What’s photographed may not even be edible.

    It’s possible the amount of meat is the same in the photo but just shoved and piled up on the side to look like more.

    Example: https://shotkit.com/food-photography-secrets-revealed/

    That said, advertisements should be forced to accurately represent what you’ll be served and not an idealized version of it.

    • Snot Flickerman
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      4513 hours ago

      That said, advertisements should be forced to accurately represent what you’ll be served and not an idealized version of it.

      In countries like Japan, this is enforced, and what it looks like on the package has to match what it looks like in real life, down to size and shape. They aren’t allowed to “enlarge to show texture” or show it smaller than it is, either.

      • @[email protected]
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        24 hours ago

        100% correct!

        They even max insanely high quality wax replicas of the food they serve… and when you get your food, it looks EXACTLY LIKE the replicas hahahaha

    • Flying Squid
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      14 hours ago

      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.

      • @[email protected]
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        1111 hours ago

        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.

        • Cris
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          39 hours ago

          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

        • Flying Squid
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          413 hours ago

          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.

    • TWeaK
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      4616 hours ago

      In most other countries outside the US they are forced to be honest. It’s still an idealised version, but you wouldn’t be able to get away with showing double meat in Europe.

    • @[email protected]
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      913 hours ago

      If I recall, the rule in the US is that the primary food being advertised must be real food, so cereal might have glue instead of milk, because you’re not selling the milk. But you can prop it up and cherry-pick as much as you like.

      You could style the meat in your sub to look like the ad… but you’d probably find that you have to stack it all up at the edge.

      • @[email protected]
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        39 hours ago

        Even with that reasoning, at some point you’ve gone way too far into fraud. This may be it: it doesn’t look possible to make the actual meat look anything like the marketing photo.

    • @Case
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      214 hours ago

      Yeah, my first thought was the advertisement probably didn’t include anything that was actually food.

      Of course, the definition of food seems to keep changing as the decades pass by.

  • @[email protected]
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    7416 hours ago

    This is just one of the reasons we need deregulation. It’s a huge nuisance that we are not allowed to make false advertising. /s

    • @[email protected]
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      3215 hours ago

      Think of all the innovative swindling we could do in an unregulated market! Think of the profits!!!

      • Flying Squid
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        814 hours ago

        Think of how delicious a deceptively-advertised Trump steak will look!

  • @[email protected]
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    4316 hours ago

    We used to be a proper country with sandwich shops and delis and now we just got these company chains that can’t even manage to make a half decent chopped cheese!

    Subway is ass go to a dang deli!

    • Flying Squid
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      14 hours ago

      FWIW, my teenager will only eat meatball subs if it comes to sandwiches (not even PB&J) and only if it comes from Subway.

      Sigh.

      • @[email protected]
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        713 hours ago

        My step kid won’t eat PBJs, corn dogs, and thinks they like grilled cheese, but has yet to eat more than a few bites of restaurant grilled cheese. They love crab legs and lobster. My wallet is crying.

        • Flying Squid
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          313 hours ago

          Sounds almost exactly like mine. She also won’t eat reheated leftovers of stuff she likes.

    • @[email protected]
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      815 hours ago

      While I agree with your overall sentiment, an italian sub customized to my preferences from WaWa of all places is effing delicious every last time, and they do not skimp on the quantity of meat.

      • @[email protected]
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        15 hours ago

        It’s gotten so bad that this poor citizen is complimenting a GAS STATION SANDWICH!!

        We’ve fallen so far…

        • @[email protected]
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          1115 hours ago

          It’s kinda more of a dairy and sandwich business with a gas station tacked on. Most of them didn’t even sell gas before 2000.

        • @[email protected]
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          515 hours ago

          Again, I agree with you. Doesn’t change the reality of that consistently awesome italian hoagie though. 😁

  • KaRunChiy
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    2115 hours ago

    I worked at a subway, and everytime we put new menu the images get more and more astranged from reality

    • r00ty
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      813 hours ago

      Yeah, it’s not really new. In the movie Falling Down from 1993 (weird, I thought it was late 80s) has the whole scene where he’s complaining about the difference between the advert and what you’re served in a fast food place (well also that they wouldn’t serve breakfast because it was like a couple of minutes late and almost certainly had some still hot breakfast around, but that’s another story).

      It’s been this way for a long time, all over the world. I’d be amazed if this turned into a world changing case after all this time.

      • @[email protected]
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        48 hours ago

        “You see what I mean? It’s plump, it’s juicy, it’s three inches thick. Now, look at this sorry, miserable, squashed thing. Can anybody tell me what’s wrong with this picture?”

  • @[email protected]
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    1015 hours ago

    Coincidentally got subway yesterday for the first time in years. Immediately noticed that the bread is less than half the width of what it used to be.

  • Tedesche
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    515 hours ago

    Why can’t Subway just give this woman the meat she paid for?