Day 300 - 14 Nov 96 - Page 36


     
     1        McDonald's who does not want to take his kids to McDonald's
     2        all the time.  So what it is like for other parents, we can
     3        all work that out for ourselves.
     4
     5        He said:  But I see on the high street every day kids
     6        tugging on mum's coat, I want to go here, I want to go
     7        there, I want to buy this, I want to buy that.  I do not
     8        find that particularly unusual, but did I say in that
     9        sentence alone.  This is the sentence about it was pressure
    10        from kids which brought their parents into our
    11        restaurants.  He said:  I probably said it, but I would
    12        have said other things with it.
    13
    14        So there he is basically saying that he agrees with that,
    15        he agrees with the statement it was pressure from kids
    16        which brought their parents into our restaurants.  So
    17        Mr. Preston, McDonald's UK President, is admitting pressure
    18        is effectively exactly the same as pester power, and it
    19        results -----
    20
    21   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   You have absolutely no need to mention
    22        pester power.  You have used the word which is in the
    23        leaflet, "pressure".
    24
    25   MS. STEEL:   I just think the point is that, you know,
    26        McDonald's witnesses are accepting it but for some reason
    27        Mr. Rampton will not.  It does not really matter which word
    28        you use.
    29
    30   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It is when you get on to pester power all the
    31        time.  I think pester power - you used the phrase "red
    32        herring" - is a great red herring, because it is a
    33        pejorative expression when "pressure" may be quite enough
    34        for your purposes.
    35
    36   MS. STEEL:   I know the leaflet does not say pester.
    37
    38   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It says the pressure this puts on people
    39        looking after children.  It is entirely up to you the way
    40        you make your submissions, but, as I have said to you
    41        before, if an ordinary word, rather than one which is very
    42        emotive, gets you home, why not be satisfied with that.
    43
    44   MS. STEEL:   It is just that I think that pestering and
    45        pressurising are the same thing, so I don't see what the
    46        fuss is about.
    47
    48   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  They are not the same thing in my family.
    49
    50   MS. STEEL:   We do not really get much pressure from a single
    51        polite request.  You get some, but -----
    52
    53   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   There you are.  If you say that, I will
    54        accept it.  I thought you might say there was such a bond
    55        of affection between a parent and child, and the parent is
    56        so devoted to the child that it would like to please the
    57        child, and it is unfortunate if the child puts any pressure
    58        even well short of pestering on the parent to do what the
    59        parent would not otherwise do.
    60

Prev Next Index