Day 042 - 31 Oct 94 - Page 40


     
     1   MR. MORRIS:  Just one thing before we continue:  the Plaintiffs
     2        had indicated that the only matter of issue was the link
     3        between the advertising and the quality of the food of
     4        McDonald's.  Point (J) in the Statement of Claim has no
     5        reference to food quality in relation to adverts.  We want
     6        to know if the Plaintiffs are still pursuing point (J) or
     7        whether they want to withdraw it.
     8
     9   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Although Mr. Rampton said it was the only
    10        point, I thought that, under this head, the alleged
    11        meanings you ought to be concerned about are (I), because,
    12        if my recollection is correct, gimmicks comes into this, or
    13        I had understood it did, under the "toy/food" section of
    14        the leaflet, under "how McDonald's deliberately exploit
    15        children".  We have an introductory paragraph; and then the
    16        "normality trap" and then "toy/food".
    17
    18        I thought we were concerned with (J), which is the
    19        normality trap encouraged by advertising, and (K), it has
    20        some extra detail, like "as a fun event", but promoting the
    21        consumption of meals at McDonald's, when they know full
    22        well that the contents could poison the children who eat
    23        them.
    24
    25        If we turn to your tab 4, just using the extract for the
    26        moment, there is no harm in saying that, for the purpose of
    27        my making my own notes, I called the first paragraph "A",
    28        which is the appeal of the advertisements and
    29        ronald mcdonald.  You say there that most television
    30        commercials went out in the afternoon, or that that has
    31        been acknowledged, and the first sentence under "how
    32        McDonald's deliberately exploit children", that starts:
    33        "Nearly all McDonald's advertising is aimed at children."
    34        (B) is the next paragraph which is underlined, which is
    35        what I will call "the normality trap".  (C) is what I just,
    36        as an abbreviation , will call "pester power".  (D), at the
    37        bottom of the page, is "challenge by relevant
    38        authorities".  The 1986, I have called "E", for my
    39        purposes; October 1989, "F"; UK November 1990 "G"; UK April
    40        1991 "H"; April 1990 "I"; February 1990, "J"; and then
    41        back.  When I give these letters, this is just how I have
    42        broken up the allegations.  "K" is something attributed to
    43        Mr. Preston in December 1985; again, that is back to most
    44        television commercials going out in the afternoon.  Then
    45        pester power, in the last two lines:  "Pressure from the
    46        kids which brought their parents into our restaurants."
    47        Then I have given "L" to Geoffrey Juliano.
    48
    49        If you turn over the page, paragraph (E), which I termed
    50        into my "M" , were the gimmicks to cover low food quality. 
    51        There is more there.  Then (F), which I have turned into my 
    52        paragraph "N" is the ronald mcdonald.  It has a number of 
    53        allegations in it:  the ronald mcdonald personality,
    54        leading to what I have called "the normality trap"; then
    55        pester power; the pull of advertising taking precedence
    56        over children's advertising, the cost to their parents, and
    57        nutritional value of the food, encouraging over-eating of
    58        junk food, leading to an unbalanced diet; then the
    59        allegations against the food, that it is, at best,
    60        mediocre,, at worst, can be poisonous, in that it is high

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