Day 283 - 21 Oct 96 - Page 14
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2 Further, that people can develop a "craving" for the food
3 sold by McDonald's and that this can lead to over-eating
4 and problems such as constipation, clogged arteries, and
5 heart attacks.
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7 The next one, it may also be nutrition, it is about the
8 stripey uniforms and happy hats.
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10 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It is about --
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12 MR. MORRIS: Stripey uniforms and happy hats and the lettuce
13 leaves. I don't know if that appears in nutrition or not.
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15 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Well, I think that is probably -- is it E?
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17 MR. MORRIS: It is E, yes.
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19 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes, use a number of gimmicks.
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21 MR. MORRIS: Yes, thank you. McDonald's use a number of
22 gimmicks such as striped staff uniforms, flashy lighting,
23 bright plastic decor and happy hats, to disguise the fact
24 that the food products are "low quality". These food
25 product are designed to look and taste exactly the same in
26 any outlet anywhere in the world.
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28 Further, that to achieve this conformity, the first and
29 second plaintiffs use a number of techniques, one of which
30 is the application of chemicals to lettuce leaves.
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32 I just want to make a note.
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34 F: Nearly all the advertising - this is advertising -
35 undertaken by McDonald's is aimed at children. In
36 particular, children associate burgers and chips with
37 clowns and circuses following the wide use by McDonald's of
38 the ronald mcdonald personality. The effect of such
39 advertising is that some children then think it is the norm
40 to go to McDonald's and that they are not normal if they do
41 not go there.
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43 Further, that it is sometimes difficult for parents to
44 distract a child who is insisting on certain types of food,
45 such as, for example, McDonald's food. To this extent
46 children often pressurise the people looking after them.
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48 Further, that part of the attraction for children in going
49 to one of the restaurants operated or franchised by
50 McDonald's is that they are "living out the advert". This
51 can take precedence in a child's mind over their appetite
52 and needs, the cost to their parents and the nutritional
53 value of the food that they consume there, encouraging
54 over-eating of "junk" food, leading to an unbalanced diet.
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56 Further, the food is at best mediocre and at worst
57 poisonous, in that - and this was amended, I believe, and
58 certainly is expanded - that a diet of this kind of food
59 can lead to a greater risk of heart disease and cancer,
60 that the foods can contain residues which can lead to ill
