Day 283 - 21 Oct 96 - Page 14


     
     1
     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.
     6
     7        The next one, it may also be nutrition, it is about the
     8        stripey uniforms and happy hats.
     9
    10   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It is about --
    11
    12   MR. MORRIS:   Stripey uniforms and happy hats and the lettuce
    13        leaves.  I don't know if that appears in nutrition or not.
    14
    15   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Well, I think that is probably -- is it E?
    16
    17   MR. MORRIS:   It is E, yes.
    18
    19   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Yes, use a number of gimmicks.
    20
    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.
    27
    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.
    31
    32        I just want to make a note.
    33
    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.
    42
    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.
    47
    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.
    55
    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

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