Taste the Sweet Nectar of Anonymity…
by Brenna Lewis, SUBWAY® Account Coordinator
Working in the world of SUBWAY® restaurants keeps a girl busy, with lots of interesting things. But what is the number one question asked?
Do you get to meet Jared?
Ah, yes. Jared, The SUBWAY guy. Poor thing lost his last name in exchange for his fame. If you ask Jared if he thinks he is famous, he will tell you, “absolutely not.” Jared Fogle was just another student at Indiana University. And like a lot of students, he was over weight. Being the big man on campus was a problem for him. At 20 years old, he had developed sleep apnea because of his excessive weight, especially around his chest and neck. This caused Jared to stop breathing in his sleep. This gave Jared the motivation to change his lifestyle, and fate would have it he lived 10 steps from a SUWBAY® restaurant. Jared walked into the restaurant, looked at the nutritional guide and devised a daily diet for himself. For one year Jared ate a 6-inch turkey, no cheese or condiments for lunch and a footlong veggie for dinner. A year later Jared had lost 100 pounds and had started walking for at least 30 minutes a day.
Another frequent question is how SUBWAY® restaurants first came to hear of Jared’s story. Despite what others may think, Jared did not contact anyone. Jared had a friend who was writing for the school newspaper who wrote a simple story about Jared’s weight loss. That story was picked up by a town newspaper, then a regional newspaper up to the point where SUBWAY® restaurants head quarters, in Milford, Connecticut was contacted for information on Jared. This was the beginning of the end of Jared Fogle the man and the inception of Jared, the spokesman.
Flash-forward almost 10 years later, Jared is traveling over 200 days of the year for SUBWAY® restaurants. He is just a regular guy with an irregular lifestyle now. He cannot walk into a public place without smiles, stares and being called at. Basically, Jared knows what if feels like to be hot young girl. Witnessing the behavior of a mob of people asking for pictures, or not asking for them, makes me unbelievably grateful for my anonymity. I do get noticed occasionally when working with Jared, but the girls just want to make sure I’m not his wife and then the conversation is done. Well, at least I get asked.
I appreciate that I can dance like a fool and it wont end up on YouTube™ or that I am not satirized on South Park. Jared is a professional. He knows his job is to maintain a brand image, which is a lot of work. This is no 9-5 job, when you are in the public eye you are “on” and your life is a show.
The agency just brought Jared in this week to shoot a commercial for SUBWAY® restaurants, so how many of you were out and about town last night to witness the show?