Bogof Marketing

Economizing yesterday, I went to Subway for lunch. With my order, they gave me four of those scrach-and-win type cards. The first three yielded nothing, but the last one showed I was the winner of a BOGOF Reggae Chicken Sandwich. Exciting! I've never had bogof reggae chicken before.

Normally, I wouldn't eat Subway two days in a row, but I recently read about a study that shows people tend to put off appealing tasks just as much as they put off unappealing tasks. And, while I'm savvier and more diligent (not to mention more handsome) than the average punter in a psychology study, in this respect I'm afraid my propensity for ruts leaves me on the other end of the bell curve. So today, I went to another Subway to cash it in ASAP.

I can almost taste the delightful bogof reggae chicken as I stand in line and the manager congratulates me as their first winner! Even better, my golden ticket curiously didn't specify whether I was to be the recipient of a free 6" sub or a free 12" sub. But guess what... she's preparing the full 12-incher for me. Truly, today is my lucky day.

At the end of the line (No thanks, no sauces on that; I wouldn't want any superfluous flavors that might compete with the delicate mixture of bogof reggae herbs and spices) she taps at the register a bit and demands £2.99. Excuse me? That's more than a whole sandwich at the Subways back home. And what about my golden ticket?!?

"No," she says, "that's the price of a 6 inch. You see, this here means 'Buy One Get One Free.' So I gave you one 6-inch sandwich for free and you have to pay for the other one." I'm not sure what the penalty is here for pelting the cashier with those obnoxious little pound coins, so I thanked her, took my sandwich, and left.

So today's recommendation to heal the economy is: Let's not give our tax dollars to the !@#$% marketing department.

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