Day 299 - 13 Nov 96 - Page 05
1 I have just mentioned, and we would also include happy
2 meals and toys and other promotional -- I can't remember
3 what you call them -- so-called give-aways. It is not just
4 toys; there were things like sunglasses and beakers, things
5 like that. All those things we would describe as the
6 gimmickry.
7
8 For that matter, another gimmickry is the artificial
9 colouring of food to make it more appealing and more
10 attractive, such as in the milkshakes and so on. I think
11 we heard evidence that it does mean that people are more
12 likely to buy the food if it is artificially coloured, or
13 that is the reason why the company does it. And the same
14 with spraying sugar solution on chips, although there was a
15 claim that that was to help the workers tell how long they
16 had been cooked for. But it is clearly designed to make
17 the food look more attractive.
18
19 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What it seems to me is, there may be an
20 argument about whether they use gimmicks or not but I have
21 not seen that as the main area of dispute because it may be
22 a question of one's own view as to whether hats -----
23
24 MS. STEEL: Something is a gimmick. That is why I was saying
25 it is my opinion.
26
27 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Let us assume that you are right, that they
28 can be called in ordinary English, gimmicks. What it seems
29 to me is defamatory, if anything is, if the meaning which
30 the Plaintiffs have pleaded in 'I','J' and 'K' is the
31 meaning, is that they are using the gimmicks to cover up
32 the fact that the food is of low character.
33
34 MS. STEEL: Low what, sorry?
35
36 MR. JUSTICE BELL: To cover up the fact that the food is of low
37 quality. Do you see what I mean? I mean, it may be said
38 there is nothing wrong with using gimmicks. The defamatory
39 bit is doing it to try and make people think your food is
40 of -----
41
42 MS. STEEL: I did say it is difficult to tell exactly what the
43 Plaintiffs are complaining about. I just feel that I have
44 to go through the fact that it is clear that they are using
45 gimmicks, you know, to deal with that part of the Statement
46 of Claim.
47
48 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Let me just carry on, and then you can see
49 where I am. That they are using advertising; well, of
50 course they are using advertising, there may be a dispute
51 about the extent to which they use it on children, but I
52 will have to sort that out. Suppose at the end of the day
53 I thought that a significant proportion of their
54 advertising is directed at children, then the question
55 might be: are they doing that to make children think they
56 are not normal if they do not go to McDonald's? And,,
57 quite apart from that, doing it in order to get children to
58 pressurise their parents to take them there.
59
60 MS. STEEL: I am coming on to that part later.
