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The Footlong Fraud

11 Inches of Lies and the Lawsuits That Changed Nothing

In 2013, a teenager in Australia did something nobody had apparently thought to do before: he measured his Subway Footlong. It was 11 inches. He posted it to Facebook. The internet lost its mind. Lawyers filed class action lawsuits. Settlement: lawyers got $520,000. Customers got nothing. Not a coupon. Not a free cookie. Nothing. An appeals court called the settlement “worthless.” Subway kept selling Footlongs. We kept buying them. Nobody learned anything.

I got paid to verify whether companies were telling the truth. That was my whole job for 12 years. And somehow it took a teenager in Perth with a ruler and a Facebook account to figure out that Subway's Footlongs weren't a foot long. The due diligence gap between Wall Street and an Australian kid is one inch, and honestly the kid is winning. I've been thinking about bringing a tape measure to lunch and I'm not even joking.— Glen Bradford, Purdue '12, now owns a tape measure he keeps in his car “just in case”

11"

Actual Length

of many 'Footlongs'

$520K

Lawyer Payout

for 'measuring bread'

Customer Payout

not even a coupon

88%

Taco Bell's Beef

they won that fight

“Footlong Is Not a Measurement”

Subway's defense — and I need you to really let this sink in — was that “SUBWAY FOOTLONG” is a registered trademark and is “not intended as a measurement of length.”

Read that again. The word “foot” is in the name. A foot is 12 inches. They named their sandwich “Footlong” and then argued in federal court that the name doesn't mean it's a foot long. This is the corporate equivalent of naming your kid “Six Feet Tall Johnson” and insisting the name has nothing to do with height. The audacity is almost admirable?

The appeals court ruled the bread length doesn't matter because the meat, cheese, and veggies are the same either way. You're losing bread, not filling. So the entire lawsuit — years of litigation, multiple courts — was about an inch of bread. Lawyers made $520,000 arguing about bread. I genuinely chose the wrong career.

The Full Timeline

From a teenager with a ruler to a $520K lawyer payday to every fast food chain getting sued.

January 2013The Discovery

An Australian Teenager Holds a Ruler Up to a Subway Sandwich

Matt Corby, a teenager in Perth, Australia, buys a Subway Footlong and does something nobody had apparently thought to do before: he measures it. It's 11 inches. He posts a photo on Facebook with the caption 'subway pls explain.' The post goes viral. Millions of people around the world realize they've never measured their Footlong either. They start measuring. Many of them are also not 12 inches. The internet does what it does best: collectively loses its mind over something that is simultaneously trivial and deeply offensive.

January 2013Comedy Gold

Subway's Response: 'Footlong Is Not a Measurement. It's a Trademark.'

Subway puts out a statement saying 'SUBWAY FOOTLONG' is a registered trademark and 'is not intended to be a measurement of length.' I need you to sit with that for a second. The word 'footlong' contains the word 'foot.' A foot is a unit of measurement. Twelve inches. Subway is arguing, with a straight face, that 'footlong' doesn't mean 'a foot long.' Incredible. The internet does not accept this. Obviously.

February 2013The Lawsuit

Class Action Lawsuits Filed Across the United States

Within weeks, multiple class action lawsuits are filed against Subway in U.S. courts. The central allegation: Subway's Footlong sandwiches are consistently shorter than 12 inches, and this constitutes false advertising. Subway argues that bread is a natural product and exact dimensions will vary. The plaintiffs argue that 'Footlong' means 'a foot long.' The legal system is now being asked to determine the precise semantic meaning of the word 'footlong' as applied to bread. We are, as a society, exactly where we deserve to be.

2015The Resolution

The Settlement: Subway Agrees to... Measure Their Bread

Settlement time. And the terms are... Subway agrees to implement procedures to ensure their Footlong subs are actually 12 inches long. That's it. That's the whole settlement. Subway will now measure bread. The lawyers get $520,000 for their trouble. The actual customers? The people who bought short sandwiches? Nothing. Not a coupon. Not a refund. Not even a free six-inch (which, let's be honest, was probably five and a half inches). The lawyers' settlement was measured and it was exactly the right size. For them.

2016The Resolution

Appeals Court Throws Out the Settlement — Calls It Worthless

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit overturns the settlement, and the opinion is one of the more entertaining pieces of legal writing in recent memory. Judge Diane Sykes writes that the settlement 'provides no meaningful benefits to class members' and is basically just a payday for lawyers. The court notes that a sandwich being slightly shorter than 12 inches causes no measurable harm to consumers because the amount of ingredients is the same regardless of bread length. In other words: a slightly shorter sandwich has the same amount of meat, cheese, and vegetables. You're losing bread, not filling. The court effectively says the whole lawsuit was pointless.

2022The Copycats

Burger King Gets Sued — Whoppers 35% Smaller Than Advertised

A class action lawsuit accuses Burger King of using misleading photos that make the Whopper look approximately 35% larger than the actual burger. The lawsuit includes side-by-side comparisons of the advertised Whopper and the real one, and — look, this won't surprise anyone who has ever ordered fast food — they don't look the same. The ad version is photographed from below with a wide-angle lens, the patty is positioned to overflow the bun, and the vegetables are artfully arranged. The real version looks like it was assembled during an earthquake. The case is ongoing.

2022The Copycats

Wendy's Sued for Misleading Burger Photos

Wendy's faces a similar lawsuit alleging their menu photos exaggerate burger sizes by 15-20%. The plaintiff argues that Wendy's uses advertising tricks — undercooked patties that look bigger, carefully placed ingredients, and camera angles that maximize apparent size — to make their burgers look substantially larger than what customers receive. Wendy's, the chain famous for tweeting 'Our beef is way too cool to ever be frozen,' now has to explain why their burgers look different from their photos. This is, of course, true of literally every fast food chain, which is kind of the point.

2011 (Throwback)Comedy Gold

Taco Bell's '88% Beef' Controversy — And They Actually Won

An Alabama law firm sues claiming Taco Bell's 'seasoned beef' is only 36% beef, with the rest being oats, soy, and water. Taco Bell's response? Full-page newspaper ads. Headline: 'Thank you for suing us.' They release the entire recipe. 88% beef, 12% seasonings — which is just... normal seasoned taco meat. The law firm quietly drops the suit. Taco Bell wins so hard it's almost unfair. The only fast food measurement scandal where the chain came out looking better than before. 88% beef. 100% confidence. Absolute power move.

OngoingComedy Gold

McDonald's Quarter Pounder — It's a Quarter Pound Before Cooking

The McDonald's Quarter Pounder weighs a quarter pound (4 ounces) before cooking. After cooking, it weighs approximately 2.8-3.2 ounces due to moisture loss. This is industry standard — all burgers lose weight when cooked — and it's disclosed in fine print. Nobody has successfully sued over this, but it exists in the same philosophical space as the Subway Footlong: when a fast food chain names a product after a measurement, are they promising that measurement? McDonald's says the name refers to the pre-cooked weight. Customers assume it refers to what they're eating. Neither party has ever measured their food before this became a conversation.

2023–2024The Resolution

The Pattern: Every Major Chain Gets Sued, Nothing Changes

Quarter pound pre-cooking, ~3 oz after

The Outcome

Technically correct (the best kind of correct)

The Cast of Characters

A teenager with a ruler, a corporation that said “footlong isn't a measurement,” and lawyers who made half a million dollars arguing about bread.

Matt Corby

Australian Teenager / The Man With a Ruler and a Dream

A teenager in Perth, Australia, who bought a Subway Footlong, measured it, found it was 11 inches, posted a photo to Facebook, and accidentally launched a global class action lawsuit. He did not receive money from the settlement. He did receive the satisfaction of being the person who made millions of adults measure their sandwiches.

“subway pls explain”

Subway Corporate

The Chain That Said 'Footlong Doesn't Mean a Foot Long'

Faced with photographic evidence that their Footlong subs were 11 inches, Subway's legal team argued that 'SUBWAY FOOTLONG' is a registered trademark, not a measurement. This is technically a legal argument. It is also the kind of statement that makes you question whether corporate lawyers live in the same reality as the rest of us. The word 'foot' is in the name. It's right there.

“SUBWAY FOOTLONG is a registered trademark as a descriptive name for the sub and not intended to be a measurement of length.”

The Class Action Lawyers

The Only Winners / $520,000 for Measuring Bread

Filed class action lawsuits on behalf of millions of Subway customers who received sub-12-inch Footlongs. Negotiated a settlement where Subway agreed to measure their bread. Received $520,000 in legal fees for their efforts. Their clients — the actual customers — received nothing. Not a coupon. Not a free sandwich. Nothing. The lawyers' compensation was measured, and it was exactly 12 inches.

“This settlement provides meaningful relief to class members.”

Judge Diane Sykes

Appeals Court Judge / Called the Settlement 'Worthless'

Wrote the Seventh Circuit opinion overturning the Subway settlement, noting that it provided 'no meaningful benefits to class members' and that the amount of ingredients in the sandwich was the same regardless of bread length. Her opinion is one of the more entertaining pieces of judicial writing in recent food law, a field that shouldn't exist but absolutely does.

“A class action that seeks only worthless benefits for the class should not be certified.”

Taco Bell Legal Team

The One Fast Food Chain That Fought Back and Won

When sued over their beef content, Taco Bell didn't settle, didn't apologize, and didn't quietly make changes. They ran full-page newspaper ads thanking the plaintiffs for suing them, released their recipe, and dared anyone to find a problem. The lawsuit was dropped. It remains the only fast food measurement scandal where the chain emerged with more credibility than before. Absolute power move.

“Thank you for suing us. Here's the truth about our seasoned beef.”

Every Person Who Has Ever Ordered Fast Food

The Real Victims / We All Know It Won't Look Like the Photo

Billions of people worldwide have ordered fast food knowing, on some level, that the burger will not look like the picture. This is the unspoken social contract of fast food: we pretend the photo is real, they pretend the food matches. When someone breaks this contract by measuring or photographing the discrepancy, we all act surprised. We are not surprised. We just don't usually bring a ruler.

“I mean, I knew it wouldn't look like the picture, but still.”

The Sandwich Math

Length of a 'Footlong'

as measured by an Australian teenager

11"

Missing sandwich

roughly 8.3% of the sandwich

1 inch

Class attorney fees

for measuring bread

$520,000

Customer compensation

not even a free cookie

$0.00

Average Subway Footlong price (2013)

8.3% of that = 56 cents of bread

$6.75

Cost to Subway of the PR disaster

still selling footlongs

Priceless

Taco Bell's beef content

they won and ran victory ads

88%

The Fast Food Honesty Meter

Taco Bell's Beef Claim88%

Said 'seasoned beef.' Was 88% beef, 12% seasoning. Ran victory ads. Released the recipe. Absolute legend behavior.

McDonald's Quarter Pounder70%

Quarter pound before cooking. Less after. Technically correct. The best kind of correct.

Subway Footlong92%

Named 'Footlong.' Was 11 inches. Argued 'Footlong' isn't a measurement. Points for creativity, if not honesty.

Burger King Whopper (ads vs. reality)65%

Ads make it look 35% bigger. Uses camera angles, undercooked patties, and food styling. Standard industry practice.

Your Expectations vs. Reality (all fast food)20%

The social contract: they pretend the photo is real, we pretend to believe it. Nobody brings a ruler. Usually.

Why This Story Matters (Kind Of)

Nobody died from a short sandwich. This isn't Boeing. But the Footlong saga is kinda the perfect parable of how consumer protection works in America. Company makes a measurably false claim. Lawyers file class action. Lawyers get paid. Consumers get nothing. Appeals court calls it pointless. Company keeps doing what it was doing. Rinse, repeat, forever.

And the court was right! The filling's the same in an 11-inch and a 12-inch sandwich. You're losing bread, not value. But still — if a company calls something a “Footlong” and it's not a foot long, what does truth in advertising even mean?

Apparently it means whatever the lawyers can negotiate for $520,000.

Glen's Take

Can we talk about the Taco Bell response for a second? Because it might be my favorite moment in corporate communications history. Most companies get sued and immediately hire a crisis PR firm to draft apologetic nothing-statements. Taco Bell took out full-page newspaper ads that literally said “Thank you for suing us.” Released their entire recipe. Dared anyone to find a problem. The lawsuit was dropped. 88% beef, 100% confidence. Absolute legend behavior.

Subway though. Look — I spent my career finding discrepancies between what companies said and what the numbers showed. An 8.3% shortfall is material. If a public company's revenue was 8.3% lower than reported? Restatement. SEC inquiry. Heads roll. If their sandwich is 8.3% shorter than the name says? “That's a trademark, not a measurement.” Amazing.

The appeals court was right though. The filling's the same. You're arguing about bread. Half a million dollars in legal fees to argue about bread. I spent 12 years analyzing GSE preferred stocks and options contracts when apparently the real money was in sandwich litigation.

11 inches of corporate honesty. Share this.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Was the Subway Footlong actually 11 inches?

Many of them were, yes. After Matt Corby's viral Facebook post in 2013, people around the world measured their Subway Footlongs and found that many were between 11 and 11.5 inches. Subway's explanation — that bread is a natural product and dimensions vary — is technically true, but the consistency of the shortfall suggested it was a systemic issue with recipe portioning rather than random variation.

Did customers get any money from the Subway lawsuit?

No. The settlement required Subway to implement measurement procedures for their bread. Class members received nothing — no refunds, no coupons, no free sandwiches. The class attorneys received $520,000 in fees. The settlement was later overturned by an appeals court that called it 'worthless' for consumers.

Is fast food advertising legally required to be accurate?

Sort of. The FTC prohibits 'unfair or deceptive' advertising, and food advertising must be 'truthful, not misleading, and, when appropriate, backed by scientific evidence.' However, there's a widely recognized exception for 'puffery' — exaggerated claims that no reasonable consumer would take literally. The legal question in these cases is whether showing a bigger-than-actual burger constitutes deceptive advertising or acceptable puffery. Courts have gone both ways.

Did Taco Bell actually win their lawsuit?

Yes, decisively. When sued over claims their 'seasoned beef' was only 36% beef, Taco Bell released their recipe showing it was 88% beef with 12% seasonings (water, spices, oats, etc.) — standard for seasoned taco meat. They ran full-page newspaper ads with the headline 'Thank you for suing us.' The plaintiff's law firm dropped the suit. Taco Bell emerged from the scandal with arguably more credibility than before.

Is a Quarter Pounder actually a quarter pound?

The patty weighs a quarter pound (4 ounces) before cooking. After cooking, moisture loss reduces it to approximately 2.8-3.2 ounces. This is standard for all cooked meat and is disclosed by McDonald's. The name refers to the pre-cooked weight, which is industry practice. Whether you feel this is honest depends on whether you think 'Quarter Pounder' describes the raw ingredient or the finished product you eat.

Why is this on Glen Bradford's website?

Because the Subway Footlong scandal is a perfect microcosm of consumer capitalism: a product named after a specific measurement doesn't meet that measurement, the lawsuit benefits only the lawyers, the appeals court calls the whole thing pointless, and we all keep ordering footlongs. I'm a finance guy who used to analyze public companies. The Subway Footlong is the shortest — literally — example of the gap between what companies promise and what they deliver.

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