The latest advertisement from Subway features none other than U.S. Women’s soccer star, Megan Rapinoe. During the commercial, the World Cup winner encourages a man to ditch his original plan to order burritos for lunch and instead get a “freshly made Footlong from Subway.”
In addition to her soccer-related prowess and apparent fandom of Subway sandwiches, Rapinoe is also an outspoken advocate for gender equality and so-called “equal pay.”
“Rapinoe says that when it comes to pay equity, the U.S. is due for a ‘paradigm shift’ in how we understand the value and potential of women,” reported NPR.
“Men are so often paid and compensated on the potential that they show, not necessarily what they’ve done,” Rapinoe said, according to the outlet. “And women are so often paid on what they’ve actually done — which normally I would say, we outperform what our contract was.”
With this in mind, The Daily Wire reached out to Subway regarding Rapinoe’s partnership and asked the following questions.
- How much was she paid for her appearance?
- How much were the other actors in her commercial paid?
At the time of writing, Subway had not responded. However, it seems reasonable to assume that Rapinoe — as the “star” of the commercial — was paid more than the extras who played “man with burger,” “man with phone,” or “man next to man with phone.”
And if this is the case, shouldn’t Megan Rapinoe be outraged by such unequal pay?
This is the same Rapinoe, after all, who appeared at the White House in March to speak out against alleged pay discrimination between women and men, suggesting that she should be paid the same as male soccer players for doing “the same job.”
“I’ve been disrespected and dismissed because I am a woman. I’ve been told that I don’t deserve any more than less because I am a woman,” Rapinoe added.
Megan Rapinoe: "I've been devalued, I've been disrespected and dismissed because I am a woman. I've been told that I don't deserve any more than less because I am a woman. Despite all the wins, I'm still paid less than men who do the same job that I do." https://t.co/canJYaCV9s pic.twitter.com/yFycaMbVXn
— CBS News (@CBSNews) March 24, 2021
Now, Rapinoe would likely argue that she, and not the extras, bring the most value to Subway’s commercial campaign. And she would be right, thereby contradicting the entire premise of her flawed campaign for “equal pay.”
As NBA star Draymond Green noted in April, “if you don’t bring in the revenue, we can’t up your pay.”
Megan Rapinoe is — we can only assume — paid more than lesser-known actors in her latest commercial because her “public status” is viewed as an opportunity for profit by Subway. For Subway, Rapinoe brings in the revenue, earning her a significant share of their corresponding expenditure.
The same is not true when it comes to U.S. soccer, hence why Rapinoe and the other women’s players are paid “less” than their male counterparts.
If Rapinoe disagrees, perhaps she should share her Subway paycheck with “man with burger,” “man with phone,” or “man next to man with phone?”
Ian Haworth is an Editor and Writer for The Daily Wire. Follow him on Twitter at @ighaworth.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.