Last year, Quiznos advertised their large deli favorites sandwiches for only $5 for a limited time in a series of commercials showing hungry people eating five dollar bills. The commercial said that these sandwiches had more meat than comparable Subway footlong subs, and the ad ends with the announcer saying “get more meat.” More recently, Quiznos has been advertising “new lower prices” and “love what you eat for less.”
A regular Mouse Print* reader recently wrote that it was his observation that during the $5 subs promotion, the “large” sandwiches seemed smaller than previously. He asked a store employee about the tuna subs, and was told they were now putting 2-1/2 scoops of tuna in them instead of the old three scoops.
Mouse Print* made three contacts with Quiznos PR people to find out if their “large” sandwiches had been downsized, but did not receive an answer. Poking around online, however, the answer seems to be yes. Here are the nutrition statements for various Quiznos sandwiches from November 2007, when the company first began to publish such information and several months before the promotion of their $5 subs:
*MOUSE PRINT:
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And here is the current nutrition statement for these same sandwiches cobbled together from their website. Note the changes in the calories column:
*MOUSE PRINT:
You will note that the total calories dropped by about 15%, old versus new. (Some would say that is a good thing since no single sandwich should contain a day’s worth of fat and calories.)
Clearly the company appears to have downsized its sandwiches. Whether that was done so they could advertise lower prices and make the public think they were getting a bargain, is unclear. We can only take an educated guess.
