Day 037 - 14 Oct 94 - Page 51


     
     1        "McDonald's", interestingly enough, except on the
     2        packaging of the chips but it uses the logo recognition at
     3        the top, the big M, the golden arches.
     4
     5        What I find disturbing about the first photograph is
     6        simply this, that they are making a very bold statement
     7        here, that this is a meal; that a coke, a packet of chips
     8        and I think this is a Big Mac constitutes a meal.  This is
     9        leading us in the wrong direction in this country.  We do
    10        not need to be considering meals as this kind of highly
    11        unbalanced affair.  What we need to be thinking about is,
    12        as I have already mentioned but must say again, a greater
    13        intake of fresh vegetables and fruit and reducing the fat
    14        consumption.
    15
    16        Now, if we become more aware of this as a good definition
    17        of a meal, then we will find the national health will
    18        undoubtedly improve probably to the extent of the targets
    19        set by the government in their recent paper, Health of the
    20        Nation.
    21
    22        This seems to me to be going quite the wrong way in
    23        defining what a meal is.  It is the second step along the
    24        road because, obviously, the Plaintiffs would say:  "Well,
    25        it does not really matter if you have one or two meals
    26        which, you know, are high-in-fat and do not contain any of
    27        the nutrients found in plant foods" and so on.  It is the
    28        overall diet that counts.
    29
    30        That is exactly what some people were saying a few years
    31        back about an individual food.  Well, now, this is the
    32        second stage down that individual line, that it is not
    33        individual foods that count, it is not even individual
    34        meals that count.  To me, this is a dreadfully slippery
    35        slope.  Nevertheless, I feel quite sure that many people
    36        will see this and consider it to be a meal, a good meal,
    37        perhaps even a healthy meal.
    38
    39   MR. MORRIS:  An extra value meal, in fact?
    40        A.  Yes, as it states there.  If I may turn to the
    41        photograph No. 2 which is a huge in-store poster in
    42        display, I believe, right now at all McDonald's -- at
    43        least all the ones I have seen recently -- again this is
    44        talking to us about the concept of a meal.  In this case
    45        the meal is rather more expensive and it consists of this
    46        huge thing, this daunting burger called a Mega Mac, large
    47        chips, large fries and a large soft drink.  Now, I found
    48        this particularly ironic in view of the fact that
    49        McDonald's ceaselessly seems to promote themselves in
    50        certain areas, at least, as promoters of health. 
    51 
    52   Q.   Indeed, make improvements in their range? 
    53        A.  Well, quite, yes.  This is not an improvement at all.
    54        I enquired at the store where this photograph was taken as
    55        to the nutritional content of this meal.  It was not
    56        available.  That information was not available -- at least
    57        it was not in this Baker Street store.  So, I then
    58        enquired as to what a "Mega Mac" actually was, what
    59        constituted it, and I was told by one of the people
    60        serving at the counter (who, I assume, knows what they are

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