Subway's 'Footlong' is missing an inch: Theory explains shrinkage

It appears that Subway sandwich has fallen short when it comes to offering the “Footlong” sub today. Over 120,000 Subway fans have taken to Facebook to ask what has happened after a picture posted on Facebook shows that the sub is missing an inch. According to Fox News on Thursday Jan. 17, 2013, a man from Australia started this campaign after he measured his Subway sandwich and found that it was only 11 inches long.

Matt Corby not only measured his Subway, but when he found that it fell short of its advertised “Footlong” status, he took a picture of the sandwich alongside a tape measure and posted it on Subway’s Facebook page. Corbit wrote “Subway pls respond” next to his posted picture. It didn’t take long for other Subway fans to start posting pictures of their own sandwiches that were missing an inch.

Where did the missing inch go? Theories today are suggesting the missing inch is no more than shrinkage during the process of warming or toasting the sub. This missing Subway inch is just one example of “public relations headaches for big companies,” reports Fox News.

Who can forget the Burger King employee who posted a picture of someone standing in two open tubs of lettuce. The sneaker clad person was captured in a photo which found its way on Twitter. There’s also the Domino Pizza employees who were captured on video defacing a pizza that found its way online to YouTube. The social media websites tend to act as an unofficial watchdog when it comes to big businesses today.

Subway has not responded to the missing inch claim, but did anyone really expect for each and every sub to measure exactly 12 inches? Anyone who has baked bread can tell you that no two loafs come out the same in width and length. While the "Footlong" sub is Subway's claim to fame, give or take an inch doesn't change the sandwich. For most people the missing inch is nothing more than half a bite.