Day 042 - 31 Oct 94 - Page 55


     
     1        key thing being anyway to keep well within the law of the
     2        land that you are in anyway in terms of advertising
     3        practice and codes.
     4
     5   MS. STEEL:  You mentioned on Friday about the World Cup advert,
     6        that you were trying to associate McDonald's with the World
     7        Cup and sport?
     8        A.  That is right, yes.
     9
    10   Q.   What benefits are there to McDonald's from being associated
    11        with the World Cup?
    12        A.  Well, I almost come back to the point before, about
    13        being of today and topical and associated with the things
    14        that are happening in the world.  The World Cup is a very
    15        high profile event which is supported by many, many people
    16        in this country -- football being the national sport.   So,
    17        therefore, to associate oneself with that particular sport
    18        makes you topical, relevant to that particular country.  In
    19        other words, in this country, it would be mostly male but a
    20        lot of female adults as well.
    21
    22   Q.   What is the purpose of being associated with something that
    23        is popular?
    24
    25   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Why not put it to him directly?
    26        (To the witness):  Would I be wrong if I said that you were
    27        hoping for an association with fitness and vigour?
    28        A.  I think in terms of the take out, overall take out, of
    29        being associated with sport then, yes, that is a healthy
    30        past time and we have no problem being associated with
    31        that.
    32
    33   MS. STEEL:  "Our food is healthy", is that what you are hoping
    34        people will think as well?
    35        A.  Our food is certainly not unhealthy, that is certainly
    36        true, yes.
    37
    38   Q.   Is that the aim then?
    39        A.  Well, there are lots of aims in that association --
    40        that would be one of them.
    41
    42   MR. MORRIS:  It may be an obvious question, but when you are
    43        associated with the Lion King (which, I believe, is going
    44        to be the largest selling film of all time, the largest
    45        grossing film of all time) is the association an important
    46        thing for McDonald's, so you get some feed back, you get
    47        some come-backs, more interest in your stores, because you
    48        are associated with that film?
    49        A.  In terms of, obviously, the appeal of the particular
    50        toys that we sell around the Lion King are very popular 
    51        and, yes, people would come in as a result. 
    52 
    53   Q.   But even if they did not want the toys, do you feel you get
    54        a benefit of being associated with a Disney box office
    55        success?
    56        A.  We would be interested in associating ourselves with
    57        companies that had the same kind of standards as
    58        ourselves.  So, in being associated with Disney then, yes,
    59        we would be quite happy with that; whether or not we
    60        directly get additional sales simply because we are

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