Subway Franchisee Retracts Yes on 8 Gift

PageOneQ.com blogger Mike Rogers put the pressure on fast-food chain Subway last week after finding on a list compiled by the Human Rights Campaign that a Subway franchise owner had donated $2,500 to Yes on 8 -- using the company’s name. Not only did he get the franchise owner to request that the gift be returned, he got Subway to confirm that the company is expanding its nondiscrimination policy to include "sexual orientation" and "gender identity."

Rogers immediately reached out to Subway headquarters with three demands: Repudiate the gift, expand the corporation's nondiscrimination policy to include sexual orientation and gender identity, and give an equal donation to the opposing side.

He got two out of three.

Subway director of corporate communications Michele DiNello wrote in an e-mail to Rogers that not only will the franchise owner who made the donation be getting an e-mail, but “we will be sending to our franchisees and developers -- around the world -- the policy regarding political donations.”

The e-mail reminded franchise owners that “your franchise agreement prohibits your use of the Subway trademark as part of your business or corporate name. Further, it states that you agree to '...not use the Trademark in a manner that degrades, diminishes, or detracts from the goodwill of the business associated with the Trademark' and 'to promptly change the manner of such use if requested to do so by us.'"

DiNello said that the franchise owner has requested a refund of his gift from Yes on 8. She also said that the company is currently in the process of changing nondiscrimination policy language.

"The company used the exact language you gave us," she wrote, referring to Rogers’s request to add "both sexual orientation and gender identity" to its nondiscrimination policy. (Ross von Metzke, The Advocate)

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Name: bill
Date posted: 11/26/2008 12:10:00 PM
Hometown: salt lake city

Comment:
Thankfully (2) employees of the slc 1300 East location have submitted resignations based on this issue... I will join them in any way to spread the word on where NOT to go to or in any way support.
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Name: bill
Date posted: 11/26/2008 12:09:00 PM
Hometown: salt lake city

Comment:
Thankfully (2) employees of the slc 1300 East location have submitted resignations based on this issue... I will join them in any way to spread the word on where NOT to go to or in any way support.
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Name: Don Savolainen
Date posted: 11/19/2008 3:12:00 PM
Hometown: Plymouth, Michigan

Comment:
Subway bread is mostly air and the sliced meat could be worn as a negligee. The sandwich looks good all fluffed up, but ten minutes later...still hungry. A lot of life is similar..let the buyer beware.
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Name: Mike Wells
Date posted: 11/19/2008 11:06:00 AM
Hometown: Salt Lake City

Comment:
Kudos to Subway... They acted honorably, and I admire that. I still don't buy their sandwiches, but that's cuz they're about 90% bread... They should yank this moron's franchise, what an idiot. He'd be nothing more than an A-Hole if he'd donated in his name, but since he donated it in Subway's name, he dragged them into his troubles.
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Name: Jeff
Date posted: 11/19/2008 8:37:00 AM
Hometown: North Hills

Comment:
I agree with Michael. A business owner may donate PERSONAL money to a cause of his or her PERSONAL choice without associating the business into the mix. I applaud Subway for its reaction and response! I think I will go there for lunch.
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Name: Monty
Date posted: 11/19/2008 6:31:00 AM
Hometown: Sacramento

Comment:
They can rescind the money all they want. The damage has been done.
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Name: Beau
Date posted: 11/19/2008 1:40:00 AM
Hometown: Long Beach, California

Comment:
From THE ADVOCATE, December 2, 2008: " 'Money speaks volumes, people,' roared the 57-year-old [Suze Orman]. 'It speaks louder than you have any idea. And for you and me and all of us to truly change what’s going on in this world you have got to be financially powerful...' Her main point--the same message she expresses on her CNBC show; in her column in O, The Oprah Magazine; and in her eight best-selling books--was that when people don’t grab the reins of their financial destiny, they allow themselves to become victims." Suze said it; Mike applied it; Subway feared it. The power structure of this country responds to money. Use it.
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Name: Beau
Date posted: 11/19/2008 1:36:00 AM
Hometown: Long Beach, California

Comment:
From THE ADVOCATE, December 2, 2008: " 'Money speaks volumes, people,' roared the 57-year-old [Suze Orman]. 'It speaks louder than you have any idea. And for you and me and all of us to truly change what’s going on in this world you have got to be financially powerful...' Her main point--the same message she expresses on her CNBC show; in her column in O, The Oprah Magazine; and in her eight best-selling books--was that when people don’t grab the reins of their financial destiny, they allow themselves to become victims." Suze said it; Mike applied it; Subway feared it. The power structure of this country responds to money. Use it.
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Name: eric johnson
Date posted: 11/18/2008 9:37:00 PM
Hometown: salt lake city, utah

Comment:
Bryan Piteck, Subway Sandwiches, 221 S. 1300 E, Owner, $500. This guy owns the Subway at the University of Utah. Boycott this jerk.
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Name: eric johnson
Date posted: 11/18/2008 9:34:00 PM
Hometown: Salt Lake City, Utah

Comment:
Bryan Piteck, Subway Sandwiches, 221 S. 1300 E, Owner, $500, Salt Lake City. This jerk owns the Subway at the U of Utah. Boycott this smuck.

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