Jared and his Giant Pants.

Cult followings are bestowed upon people of all varieties. Once disillusioned youngsters were drawn to John Lennon,, with his message of love and peace. These days, such ideas seem unattainable. In this McDonaldized culture a new hero has emerged and his name is Jared. Armed with a smile and the giant pants he once wore, Jared offers a simple message: eat a deli sandwich and chips instead of a burger and fries.

Today, through countless commercials, it’s common knowledge that Jared lost weight with a daily ritual of walking to Subway to eat one of its more healthful selections. It’s a kind of strange idea. But the appeal is simple: this is an easy way to escape the widespread obesity caused by fast-food culture, while not escaping the culture. Subway dieters still eat their meals out of a bag, but manage to lose weight.

Recently the advertisements took us into the Post-Jared era. Now that the world’s met the guy, it’s time to sing his paeans. One female fan has “Thank You Jared” displayed in her house. And (perhaps indirectly capitalizing on 9/11) a male firefighter is shown with a picture of Jared on his locker, just like a 13-year-old girl might display her N’Sync pictures. In these spots Jared merely shows up to make a few cameos.

I can't wait for the trading cards.

Subway has previously stated that it wants to be bigger than McDonald’s (See the book McDonaldization) and now it has a perfect scheme for taking on the fast food giant. This has been evinced by the commercials’ frequent utterance “… laying off the burgers and fries”. Subway has also become involved with the American Heart Walk, further buttressing its position as being healthful fast food. Can you imagine such an organization teaming up with Burger King or Wendy’s?

Those were the kind of places Jared apparently frequented before finding Subway. But to say the sandwiches saved him would be to discount the fact that he actually got off the couch and walked somewhere. For most of us the idea of walking from our house to a restaurant seems preposterous. For one thing, we live in a culture of convenience. For another thing, suburban streets are rarely made in a way that is pedestrian-friendly.

The days of a typical neighborhood including retail and dining establishments are long gone. Consider what passes for a night on the town these days: driving from your house to a restaurant; driving from the restaurant to a movie theater; driving from the movie theater to a bar; driving from that bar to another bar. It’s a great way to waste time and endanger the lives of yourself and others, but it’s kind of illogical if you start to think about it.

If Subway really wants to leave its mark, it could help create new urban neighborhoods where residents walk to shops, of course including Subway. Maybe even encourage development of mass transit, considering its name.

The question is whether Subway has the potential to make a real difference, or are Jared’s giant pants just made of tinsel.

=discussion
=main page