Day 300 - 14 Nov 96 - Page 34


     
     1
     2   MS. STEEL:   I think it is.  I mean, it is not a word that we
     3        chose.  It was a word that was brought in because Miss Dibb
     4        had attended a seminar organised by the advertising
     5        industry that was entitled "pester power, how to reach
     6        children in 1994".  It is not a term invented by critics of
     7        the fast food industry.
     8
     9   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  For better or worse, and there is no use
    10        getting excited about it at this stage, McDonald's do not
    11        accept that they are part of the pestering.
    12
    13   MR. MORRIS:   Mr. Rampton does not, but his witnesses do.
    14
    15   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   You are going to finish on advertising by
    16        quarter past four this afternoon, so you had better get on
    17        with it.
    18
    19   MS. STEEL:   Anyway, I think I was just in the middle of reading
    20        out a quote from Mr. Miles, that the end result of this did
    21        create a degree of conflict of interests in families that
    22         -- sorry, it did create a degree of conflict, although he
    23        did not think it was a problem.  But that is his opinion.
    24        He is accepting the fact that it does create a degree of
    25        conflict.
    26
    27        Sue Dibb, I forgot, I did not do this because this was a
    28        different day, this was day 55, she referred to, I don't
    29        know if this is the same Mori survey, but she said on
    30        page 39 of day 55 that the survey revealed that
    31        three-quarters of parents do not believe that current
    32        patterns of food advertising encourage children to eat a
    33        healthy balanced diet and that nearly two-thirds would like
    34        to see tougher restrictions on the advertising of food and
    35        soft drinks to children, 46 percent of parents of children
    36        aged five and over admitted that they gave in to buying
    37        advertising foods that would not otherwise buy as a result
    38        of that pester power.  I think the figure is different
    39        because it is a more restricted age group.  And that half
    40        of the parents of the children over five said they think
    41        that food advertising encourages their children to spend
    42        their pocket money on unsuitable foods.  That was on
    43        page 40.
    44
    45        You may remember that we made a pleading which was based
    46        upon an article which appeared in the New American in
    47        December 1985 which was an interview with Paul Preston, the
    48        president of McDonald's UK.  This article, Mr. Preston was
    49        asked about it in examination-in-chief.  The article said
    50        that -- it quoted Mr. Preston as saying:  Most of our
    51        television commercials went out in the afternoon when the
    52        kids were watching.  It was pressure from the kids which
    53        brought their parents into our restaurants.
    54
    55        The only part that Mr. Rampton put to him was it has been
    56        suggested that you admitted that the majority of McDonald's
    57        television advertisements went out in the afternoon; is
    58        that true or false.  Mr. Preston said:  I do not think
    59        I ever said that; in fact, it has never been the case, I do
    60        not know why I would say something like that, it has never

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