From Your Health Journal…..”A very moving story in USA Today by Bruce Horovitz which discusses Subway sandwiches and Jared, their spokesperson / weight loss figure. The article focuses on if Subway has done more for Jared (health wise) or has Jared done more for Subway (money wise). My guess, they have mutually benefited. Subway sales have significantly gone up, competing with the likes of McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s – With Jared’s help. Jared has lost weight, kept it off, and properly made some good money endorsing the company. But, who helped who more? Not sure, they both seem like winners. Subway more than tripled its U.S. sales to $11.5 billion in 2011, from about $3.1 billion in 1998, the year before Jared started to with them, estimates Nation’s Restaurant News. Subway now has more than 38,000 stores in 100 countries, and has more locations in the U.S. and globally than McDonald’s. Jared has become a mini-empire, starring in more than 300 Subway TV commercials; writing one autobiographical book and considering a second book aimed at children; emerging as a motivational speaker who pulls in $5,000 to $10,000 for personal appearances while amassing a net worth that may exceed $15 million, estimates celebritynetworth.com. Please visit the USA Today web site (link provided below) to read the complete article. It was well written and inspirational.”

From the article…..

It may sound like a chicken/egg argument, but after 15 years, the big question is: Has Subway done more for Jared, or Jared for Subway?

Jared Fogle was so fat that he couldn’t fit through doorways. He couldn’t squeeze into car seats. And he chose college classes by testing classroom seats to see if could maneuver his 425-pound frame into them.

“My whole life was about planning ahead to avoid embarrassing situations,” says Fogle, in an exclusive interview with USA TODAY on the 15th anniversary of his famous Subway diet. Fogle ate his way to fame with the “Jared Diet” by shedding 245 pounds in about a year. “It was exhausting.”

In a nation obsessed with all things skinny, Fogle epitomizes every dieter’s dream: keeping the weight off. Long before there was The Biggest Loser or a Jillian Michaels or an HCG Diet, there was Jared, who is sometimes known as “The Subway Guy.” Fogle is no less a franchise to Subway than Ronald McDonald is to McDonald’s — but without the face paint.

“Jared gave Subway the health halo before any of us even knew the term,” says Robin Lee Allen, executive editor at the trade publication Nation’s Restaurant News. “Nobody else has struck on a Jared.”

The question after 15 wildly profitable years is this: Who has benefited the most from the relationship that has utterly changed the way a fast-food joint can market itself: Subway or Fogle? What’s more: Just how much more positive health spin can Subway possibly squeeze out of Jared?

“It’s an elegant dance,” says Robert Thompson, pop culture professor at Syracuse University. “But like a bird that sits on a hippo’s back and picks off the insects — the hippo gets rid of the bugs and the bird gets dinner.”

Even with the $200 billion fast-food industry embroiled in a market share melee, Subway’s growth has exploded during Fogle’s 15 years with the privately held company that does not publicly disclose or discuss its income or revenue. Subway more than tripled its U.S. sales to $11.5 billion in 2011, from about $3.1 billion in 1998, the year before Fogle started with them, estimates Nation’s Restaurant News. Subway now has more than 38,000 stores in 100 countries, and has more locations in the U.S. and globally than McDonald’s.

To read the full article…..Click here