It’s a stark reminder for PR managers not to downplay any information or concerns they receive related to their brand reputation: Subway saying that it received a “serious” complaint in 2011 about Jared Fogle when he was the company spokesperson, but did not act on it because the complaint did not imply any criminal sexual activity.
Associated Press reports that Subway issued a statement Friday saying it has completed an internal investigation into whether it was alerted to concerns about Fogle, who agreed last month to plead guilty to having paid for sex acts with girls as young as 16 and having received child pornography. Subway has severed ties with Fogle.
Subway spokeswoman Kristen McMahon told AP that the company received the "serious" complaint in 2011 from Rochelle Herman-Walrond, a former journalist from Florida who revealed publicly to WWSB-TV in Sarasota last month that she also took her concerns to the FBI and secretly recorded her phone conversations with Fogle for more than four years to assist the agency's investigation.
McMahon said the 2011 complaint "expressed concerns about Mr. Fogle," but included "nothing that implied anything about sexual behavior or criminal activity involving Mr. Fogle." according to AP.
Nevertheless, the company said in its statement that it regrets that the complaint was "not properly escalated or acted upon."
The Subway saga underscores two important issues for communicators to keep in mind.
First, when helping to select a corporate spokesperson PR managers have to be extra vigilant in their due diligence and make sure (as humanely possible) they the spokesperson doesn’t have any skeletons in his or her closet.
Second, whether it’s a complaint about the corporate spokesperson or the company, in general, don’t be too quick dismiss the charges (even thought they may seem frivolous or without merit). Take them seriously. Contact your legal counterpart and get it out in the open. C-level executives—whether they admit or not—will be grateful to you should those charges eventually take on a life of their own.
(Fred DeLuca, co-founder of Subway, died Monday after being diagnosed with cancer in 2013. DeLuca's death came weeks after the company celebrated its 50th anniversary.)
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