Subway’s foot becomes an icon of Trump’s police takeover of Trump’s police

Sean Charles Dunn, the now famous demonstrator on the internet known as “Guy sandwich”, was captured on sandwich video wrapped in green and yellow paper to the officer, after calling a group of standing agents outside the “fascist” metro. The video was downloaded from Instagram on August 10 and has since become viral, with major media reporting the incident and causing responses from the Trump administration.

The American lawyer for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said in a video published last Wednesday that Dunn would be accused of assault against a police officer, a crime liable to eight years in prison. The next day, the Attorney General Pam Bondi declared in an X post that Dunn had been dismissed from his work at the Doj.

“Glue your metro sandwich elsewhere,” said Pirro in the video that has now accumulated more than 2 million views.

Well, Dunn did not do it, but the residents of DC, painting the national capital with banksy style portraits of Guy sandwich, his right hand ending, armed with a green, yellow and red foot. The only act of protest has transformed into a symbol of resistance against the federal redemption for the application of the federal law of President Donald Trump. T-shirts representing feet struck Etsy, and some demonstrators even bring metro sandwiches wrapped in demonstrations outside the White House.

But what happens when a large brand is linked to a national debate?

Other well -known brands have been monitored and discussed closely by the public for cultural and political implications.

In July, American Eagle was criticized for his jeans advertising campaign “Sydney Sweeney has an excellent Jean” who featured the actress saying: “The genes are transmitted from parents to offspring … My jeans are blue.”

This month, the refreshment of the Cracker Barrel logo aroused online criticism from the customers of the restaurants accusing the brand of moving away from its roots and “alarm clock”.

Experts said Fortune The position of this metro is unique in that it has not encouraged any of the debates in which it is involved now. Unlike an advertising campaign, a change in policy or public support for a marginalized community or a cause, Subway has not triggered a brand conversation on their own. Instead, experts said the series of improbable events is a case study in brand images management due to external forces and crisis communication.

“Subway did not choose to be in this situation,” said Stacy Rosenberg, marketing teacher at Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University Fortune. However, “they must publish a declaration of crisis communication to take a certain level of control of the message.”

Although Subway was involuntarily thrown into the DC police takeover debate, she said that companies had to prepare for the unexpected to be able to respond in a timely time.

Subway has not yet publicly responded to the incident and has not responded to Fortune for comment.

Since August 10, Subway has posted routine promotional equipment on Tiktok, X and Instagram. Some of their supporters took the comments section to continue the conversation on the DC incident. Under a photo of August 13 of an 6 -inch Instagram commentator, an Instagram worker replied: “I’m just delighted to throw them away from the fascists.” X users responded to a metro awards position on August 12 with a photo of Dunn Arrested, calling to be the new spokesperson for the Sandwich channel.

“I think that (subway) is waiting for him, hoping probably not to have to do,” comments, Melissa Murphy, another marketing teacher at the Tepper School of Business of Carnegie Mellon, said Fortune.

As social media allows individual videos to become lightning points and viral symbols, messaging can quickly move away from brands. It is Subway’s responsibility to provide an answer, she said.

Murphy said that one of the exercises she does with marketing students is to think about “everything possible that could go wrong”, classify them by likelihood and write the beginnings of public statements for those who have the greatest chance of performing.

Although a metro sandwich launching “may not have been on the bingo map”, it is a political problem affecting a brand, which is something that companies have to keep in mind, she said.

“If a brand is not prepared for it, I mean, it is sort of shame,” said Murphy.

But others do not think that Subway must do anything for the moment.

“There is a time to answer,” said crisis communications expert Cindyee Harrison, CEO of Synaptic, a public relations agency for small businesses, said Fortune. “I’m not quite sure that this moment has arrived or will arrive for Subway.”

Harrison said the sandwich brand launched on the federal officer had taken the rear seat in the minds of people.

“It is the irony of the armament of a sandwich,” she said. “I think that’s the point more. So it could really have been a sandwich. It turns out that it is subway. ”

The sandwich becoming an emblematic symbol was an organic crowd response at a viral moment, something common in the media today and likely to pass, said Harrison.

If Subway potentially seeks to capitalize on this online increased brand conversation, it could be fallacious, she added.

Although Murphy said she was surprised that Subway did not publish an official statement on the issue, she understands that the sub-chain does not want to alienate any of their customers.

“I think that forces their hand to have an opinion a little,” said Murphy. “And it’s dangerous.”