Earlier this week, John Oliver talked about Subway for almost 27 minutes on his show, "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver".
Anyone who's ever watched Oliver's show knows his brilliance comes from the fact that his segments aren't just really funny... they're really funny AND based on extensive research.
Oliver certainly has his opinions, but they're almost always very well supported. He'll say something outrageous that makes you laugh and then immediately think, "Wait a minute, he has a point..."
Which brings us back to his Subway segment.*
I can't tell you how many people watched this segment on HBO, but this clip currently has almost 2.9 million views on YouTube.
And if you believe "all PR is good PR", I'd offer this video up as a strong rebuttal to that argument.
Normally, having a big-name celebrity talk about your brand for almost half an hour -- for free! -- would be cause for celebration.
But I suspect the folks at Subway's headquarters won't be doing much celebrating this week.
Warren Buffet once said, "Never do anything in life if you would be ashamed of seeing it printed on the front page of your hometown newspaper for your friends and family to see."
Perhaps that quote updated for the YouTube generation might be:
"Never do anything in life if you would be ashamed to have John Oliver do a segment on it."
* If you're in a region (like Canada) that's been blocked from watching this clip on YouTube, the Opera browser has a built-in VPN that can help. To learn more about this little trick (and for other helpful hacks), click here.