Day 001 - 28 Jun 94 - Page 13
1 animals and people behind a facade of colourful gimmicks
and 'family fun'. The food itself is much the same
2 everywhere - only the packaging is different. The rise of
these firms means less choice, not more. They are one of
3 the worst examples of industries motivated only by profit,
and geared to continual expansion.
4
This materialist mentality is affecting all areas of our
5 lives, with giant conglomerates dominating the
marketplace, allowing little or no room for people to
6 create genuine choices. But alternatives do exist, and
many are gathering support every day from people rejecting
7 big business in favour of small-scale self-organisation
and co-operation.
8
The point is not to change McDonald's into some sort of
9 vegetarian organisation, but to change the whole system
itself. Anything less would still be a rip-off."
10
I pause there. Just over the page (because it is relevant
11 to the claim for an injunction) underneath the box, the
box, the box reads: "Produced by Greenpeace (London)" --
12 I will come back to them -- "for worldwide anti-McDonald's
protests on United Nations 'World Food Day' October 16",
13 the year being 1989. There is a square blob, "What can be
done. Stop using McDonald's, Wimpy, etc., and tell your
14 friends exactly why." In other words, tell everybody that
you know about the contents of this leaflet.
15
At the bottom of the page there is a square box which
16 describes -- I will not read because, in our case, it is
not an accurate description -- the London Greenpeace
17 group. At the bottom there is an address where one can
send off for further copies of this leaflet.
18
My Lord, in reading that leaflet in the way I did, your
19 Lordship will have noticed that I concentrated on the
statements and implications of fact. There were two
20 reasons for that, my Lord. First, of course they formed
by far a greater part of the leaflet. Second, it is on
21 account of those statements of fact that McDonald's have
brought this action; I should say, misstatements of fact.
22
My Lord, there may well be people in McDonald's -- not too
23 many -- who do not like McDonald's food, whether because
it is made from meat or because they do not like the taste
24 of it, or whatever other reason. Such people may wish to
add expression to their views about McDonald's food
25 sometimes in strong terms. So far as McDonald's are
concerned, anybody is free to express his criticism in
26 whatever terms he wishes. McDonald's may not like it, but
they would never try to prevent it. They cannot and do
27 not object to fair and reasonable and honest criticism of
their business or their products.
28
What however, they will always seek to prevent -- always
29 have sought to prevent -- is dissemination of false
factual information about the company, its business and
30 its products.
