Coverage: Ex-Subway spokesman to plead guilty to child-sex charges

More than a month after the investigators searched his home in connection to a child pornography probe, former Subway spokesperson Jared Fogle was charged with several child-sex offenses. News broke later in the day that Fogle would plead guilty to the charges.

Now many are asking what impact Fogle’s actions will have on the brand he formerly represented.

Katie Rogers of The New York Times summed up the day’s news:

Jared Fogle, the former pitchman for Subway sandwich restaurants, notified a federal court on Wednesday that he would plead guilty to sex acts with minors and distribution of child pornography.

Mr. Fogle is charged with receiving and distributing sexually explicit images of minors and traveling across state lines to pay for sex with minors.

He was formally apprised of the charges against him at an initial hearing in Indianapolis, then released to home detention with GPS monitoring.

Jeremy D. Margolis, a lawyer for Mr. Fogle, said his client’s plea hearing had not yet been scheduled. As part of a plea agreement, details of which were released by federal prosecutors hours before Mr. Fogle’s court appearance, Mr. Fogle is expected to pay $100,000 in restitution to each of the 14 victims, eight of whom are still minors. He is also expected to receive a sentence of five to 12 years in federal prison.

“Jared Fogle is agreeing to plead guilty to the charges filed against him today,” Mr. Margolis said in a later statement. “In doing so, Jared is accepting responsibility for what he has done.”

Writing for The Indianapolis Star Tim Evans and Mark Alesia cataloged the numerous Fogle supporters who are now turning their backs on the slimmed-down star:

As the explicit revelations unfolded Wednesday, numerous supporters backed away from the slimmed-down celeb who appeared five times in the past five years on The Biggest Loser TV series.

• Subway, which had suspended its relationship with him hours after investigators raided his home July 7 in Indiana, repeated its decision to fire Jared Fogle via Twitter.

“Jared Fogle’s actions are inexcusable and do not represent our brand’s values,” the company said via Twitter. “We had already ended our relationship with Jared.”

• Jared ​Fogle’s family expressed shock and disappointment.

“We are very concerned for the well being of those affected by his conduct,” family members said in a statement. He is the son of Dr. Norman and Adrienne Fogle of Indianapolis. “At the same time, we are gratified that Jared is accepting responsibility for what he has done by agreeing to plea guilty to the charges filed today and by volunteering to make restitution to the victims.”

The Wall Street Journal’s Julie Jargon and Mark Peters discussed what Subways’ next advertising strategy and how the the Fogle fallout will hurt the company’s brand:

Though many marketers have suffered embarrassment when their famous spokespeople have run into trouble, few companies’ brands are so closely intertwined with one person as Subway’s has been with Mr. Fogle.

The chain of more than 27,000 U.S. sandwich shops began featuring Mr. Fogle in commercials in 2000 after the then-college student claimed he had lost weight by exercising and adopting a diet of Subway sandwiches. Mr. Fogle became known as “the Subway guy” and appeared in more than 300 commercials for the brand.

His weight-loss story helped fuel the company’s sales for years and contributed to its image as a healthy, convenient place to eat.

Wendy Patrick, a business-ethics lecturer at San Diego State University, said Mr. Fogle also was unusual in that he was held up as a role model for others seeking healthier lifestyles. “Role models are held to a higher standard than typical celebrity spokesmen. That’s really what distinguishes Jared from other people,” she said.

Some branding experts said Subway likely will shift the focus of future marketing messages to its food.

“I would be surprised if they went with another spokesperson or ‘spokes animal’ or anything like that because of the inevitable strong comparison that would be made to Jared,” Mr. Rivkin said. “Since they stood for so long for fresh and healthy food, I think they’ll return to that in their advertising.”

Other experts said they believed Subway should quickly introduce a new face as a spokesman for the brand to help consumers forget about its association with Mr. Fogle. “The last thing they should do is remain quiet…[Mr. Fogle] needs to be replaced with someone new,” said marketing consultant Dean Crutchfield.

There are signs that Subway is tweaking its approach to advertising. The company’s longtime marketing chief, Tony Pace, stepped down late last month, although he said his departure had nothing to do with Mr. Fogle’s problems. The day after Mr. Pace’s announcement, Subway said it was conducting a review of its creative advertising, according to Advertising Age.

Chris Woodyard of USA Today also focused on the impact Fogle’s arrest will have on Subway’s brand:

So far, Subway has endured the scandal without being terribly besmirched. But the next chapter, if it comes to pass, could be more difficult.

“Subway is probably going to catch another round of heat in social media. And it’s still too early to tell, but unless the company knew something about Jared early on and did nothing, I suspect this will blow over,” says Ken Wheaton, editor of Ad Age.

One crisis management public relations expert, Jonathan Bernstein, credits Subway for yanking their sponsorship of Fogle in July when search warrants were served by federal agents. But, he adds the sandwich chain would have been wiser to have parted ways when trouble first started surfacing last spring, when the head of Fogle’s charitable arm, the Jared Foundation, was arrested in the case.

“They probably didn’t do it soon enough,” says Bernstein, president of Bernstein Crisis Management.

The case once again calls into question, too, the wisdom of having a real-life pitchman, whether a celebrity or an average person, who wind up embarrassing a company. Just as cyclist Lance Armstrong and chef Paula Deen ended up seeing their empires crumble over embarrassing disclosures, so, too, can the same trouble come to average people thrust into public roles.

“You never know if they are squeeky-clean today how they will be tomorrow,” Bernstein says.

Many chains avoid the problem by creating charactors like McDonald’s Ronald McDonald to represent the brand, or Progressive Insurance’s eager saleswoman, Flo. Fogle, known to the world simply as Jared, was different. “He’s just that normal, everyday kind of person in a world where we expect spokespeople to be celebrities,” says Deb Hileman, president of the Institute for Crisis Management, who thinks Subway has made the right moves by communicating early in the case.