3.

0 CRITICAL ANALYSIS

When the company's spokesperson, Jared "The Subway Guy" Jared Fogle, had his
home raided by the FBI as part of an ongoing child pornography investigation, Subway was
forced to deal with a Public Relations issue.

A PR crisis occurs when a bad incident or review about your company acquires traction
in the media. It can be connected to an unsafe business practise, a client accident at your
location, or a personnel-related internal problem.

Although Fogle has not been charged with any crimes, the sandwich chain's
spokesperson is no longer Fogle after the two parties mutually agreed to cease their
marketing collaboration. The suspension of Fogle is expected. When a mistake exposes a
brand to negative news, brands frequently oust the representative. By definition, a crisis is
any event that endangers a company's integrity or reputation and is typically sparked by
unfavourable or unfavourable media attention.

However, the speed with which everything happened in the Jared Fogle event created a
precedent. Over the course of only one working day, Fogle was charged with PR rapid
reaction, put on trial, and found guilty. A corporation in trouble with the public relations once
had the "luxury" of implementing its crisis strategy all day long. Deadlines for print and
television in the late afternoon would give enough time to put together a crisis team, select a
spokesman, review and modify corporate policy, consult with legal counsel, anticipate
difficult inquiries, and finally draught a statement for publication.

Currently, social media has reversed the crisis communication strategy. Within an hour
of the crisis starting, a timely, prepared statement is anticipated. The media and citizen
journalists are not all sitting on their collective hands waiting for that prepared statement,
which will just increase the chaos of the crisis management process. In order to fill the gap in
the news cycle with fresh perspectives and negative hash tags for the topic, company
websites and social media feeds are actively scanned for any incriminating or embarrassing
information.

This particular dilemma first surfaced back in April when Fogle's name or that of his
Jared organisation was connected to Russell Taylor, the director of the organisation, being
detained on suspicion of child pornography.

A 30-second film called "Jared's Journey" was being sent out by Subway as part of their
"Jared's Journey" effort to connect with millennials on social media when the arrest occurred.
The arrest was not a major national news event, and Subway was not compelled to change the
campaign's direction. However, it did serve as the catalyst for the uproar that followed the
raid on Fogle's house. Now that Fogle had admitted to selling porn during his time in college,
the two stories had become strangely intertwined.
 In times of crisis, the public, the media, and everyone else want answers—now.

Waiting too long to answer? In your absence, the internet community will react, and it won't
be pretty.

Your message is urgent? Another shoe could drop in the story, and a false, misleading, or
incomplete remark could further damage your reputation.

There are not many opportunities for error from a PR perspective. Officials from the
corporation frequently obtain their knowledge in real time and from the same sources as the
general public, in this case social media, as is likely the case in the Subway case.

On Tuesday, July 7, 2015, the Subway's crisis communication strategy was implemented as
follows.

6:00 am A search warrant is executed at Fogle's Zionsville, Indiana, residence by the

FBI, Indiana State Police, and U.S. Postal Inspector.
8:39 am Fox59 Indianapolis News first reports on the dawn raid.
8:40 am Fox59 tweets, "#BREAKING Federal Authorities raid home of Subway
spokesman Jared Fogle."
10:30 am Major news organisations begin tweeting about the story. There are links to
more than 150 articles on the raid on news websites.
12:00 pm Subway removes any references to Jared Fogle from its website and social
media platforms.
12:24 pm We are shocked by the revelation, which we think is connected to an earlier
inquiry involving a former Jared Foundation employee, said a spokeswoman for
Subway in a statement. We are really worried and will be constantly observing
the situation. There are currently no additional details available.
5:18 pm Because to the ongoing inquiry, Subway and Jared Fogle have cut off
communication. Due to the ongoing inquiry, Subway and Jared Fogle have
mutually decided to put their relationship on hold. Jared expects no action to be
taken and continues to cooperate with the authorities. Jared and Subway both
concur that this was the right course of action.

5:30 pm Jared Fogle and the hashtag #JaredFogle are hot topics on social media.

The same speed that sparked the crisis' rapid escalation also contributes to its
distinctiveness. Two days have passed since the Fogle story was in the news, but it is still
trending on social media. The media has already moved on to the next big issue because news
feeds are updated and changed every second.

As the public will allow Subway some breathing room as everyone waits for the results
of the inquiry, which is anticipated to take a few weeks to complete, the story did not
disappear. Subway did, however, lose a seasoned spokeswoman in the interim. However,
they acquired some more time to plan a fresh advertising campaign and hire a new
spokesperson when, and if, the news about Fogle worsens.
In times of crisis, the demand for immediate answers from the public, the media, and
everyone else is high. Delaying a response can lead to the internet community reacting
unfavorably. An urgent message runs the risk of another damaging development in the story,
and a false or incomplete remark could further harm one's reputation. From a public relations
perspective, there is little room for error. Corporate officials often gather real-time knowledge
from the same sources as the general public, such as social media, as demonstrated in the
Subway case.

On July 7, 2015, Subway implemented its crisis communication strategy in response to a

series of events. At 6:00 am, a search warrant was executed at Jared Fogle's residence in
Zionsville, Indiana, by the FBI, Indiana State Police, and U.S. Postal Inspector. At 8:39 am,
Fox59 Indianapolis News reported on the dawn raid, and shortly after, at 8:40 am, they
tweeted about it. By 10:30 am, major news organizations began sharing the story on social
media, with over 150 articles providing coverage of the raid.

At noon, Subway promptly removed any mentions of Jared Fogle from its website and social
media platforms. At 12:24 pm, a Subway spokeswoman released a statement expressing
shock and concern, mentioning a possible connection to a previous inquiry involving a
former Jared Foundation employee but providing no further details. By 5:18 pm, Subway and
Jared Fogle had cut off communication due to the ongoing inquiry, mutually agreeing to put
their relationship on hold. They stated that Jared expected no action to be taken and would
continue cooperating with the authorities, emphasizing that this was the appropriate course of
action. Consequently, by 5:30 pm, Jared Fogle and the hashtag #JaredFogle became highly
discussed topics on social media.