McSubway

This is an interesting study - customers of McDonald's and Subway were interviewed on their way out of the respective restaurants and asked how many calories they thought they had consumed.  Those data were then compared with how many they actually consumed.

The results of the Cornell University and University of Illinois study as published in USA Today are:

• Customers at McDonald's consumed about 710 calories and estimated that they had eaten about 670 calories each.
• Those at Subway each ate about 560 calories but estimated only 335.

"The customers at McDonald's ate a lot of calories and knew they'd eaten a lot," says Wansink, director of Cornell's Food and Brand Lab. "But those at Subway experienced the 'halo effect,' which allowed them to think they were eating better than they were."

Comments

[Patrick Comer]

That's not too surprising given general market perception of the healthiness of Subway vs. McDonald's. It is however concerning that people don't realize how many calories they are actually consuming.

[panasianbiz]

David, thank you for sharing the results of this enlightening survey. It seems like Subway's marketing has been very effective in making people believe that they will save calories and lose weight simply by eating there instead of at a competitor's.