Day 025 - 16 Sep 94 - Page 27
1 within the mind of the advertiser and the advertising
2 agency you would, in most instances, be able to find that
3 it had been done with deliberate intent to deceive. The
4 law does not require that putting the burden on the
5 advertiser, who does have the specialised knowledge of how
6 consumers think and behave, to ensure that they are
7 honestly advertising to consumers as they find them,
8 rather than as we might wish consumers were.
9
10 MR. RAMPTON: May I know then precisely, Mr. Gardner, what your
11 assertion is in relation, as to McDonald's liability, if
12 you like, in relation to this particular advertisement
13 that we have been looking at, the cholesterol
14 advertisement?
15 A. Which aspect of it, Mr. Rampton?
16
17 Q. I want to know why you say this advertisement infringes
18 Texas law.
19 A. I do not say it infringes. I would say it violates. I
20 do not know what you mean by "infringes".
21
22 Q. I do not mind what word you use. Why is it a breach of
23 Texas law?
24 A. I need to look at it and I have got several things in
25 front of me. Are you through questioning me from 6?
26
27 Q. I am not trying to make life difficult. I am trying, if
28 I can, to save time. Turn to page 132 of tab 34 in that
29 bundle for the moment. Let us take it in its proper
30 order. Start at page 131. This is a letter signed by
31 Mr. Mattox himself, yes?
32 A. Yes.
33
34 Q. Can you tell me, at this distance of time, whether he
35 wrote the words or whether somebody else drafted them for
36 him?
37 A. I cannot -- I do have too many things here. May I put
38 volume VI away?
39
40 Q. Put that one away. We do not need that one any more for
41 the moment anyway. You cannot remember whether he wrote
42 it himself. Do you think you might have had a hand in the
43 drafting of this letter?
44 A. Mr. Rampton, I did not say I could not remember.
45
46 Q. Do you think that you may have had a hand in the drafting
47 of this letter?
48 A. I can tell the court with about a 99 per cent
49 probability what happened here, knowing how we did handle
50 matters of this nature. I cannot tell you this is
51 absolutely it. But I am fairly positive that this
52 occurred, if you will.
53
54 Q. I just wanted to know whether you were involved in the
55 drafting of this letter. That is all.
56 A. Normally speaking, I would have been. I had authority
57 to send out this letter without, over my signature,
58 without Mr. Mattox's review or signature. In this
59 instance, as in the instance, I believe we were talking
60 about the 1986 letter from the Attorneys General Mattox
