Day 024 - 15 Sep 94 - Page 52


     
     1        letter.  It is the second paragraph, third paragraph on
     2        page 4 of the second paragraph, with respect to that
     3        objection that I would differ with.  That paragraph says
     4        we blatantly mischaracterised the advertisement.  That is
     5        not true.
     6
     7        The next sentence of that paragraph says that the text of
     8        the advertisement does not even mention McDonald's regular
     9        hamburger, let alone emphasise its cholesterol content.
    10        That is literally true because the text of the
    11        advertisement does not, but it is also a nearly classic
    12        example of how representation can be literally true and
    13        yet be misleading and deceptive, because the advertisement
    14        in what I believe my testimony I referred to as a
    15        pictorial matter -- it is the chart which is technically
    16        not a part of the text, it is a part of the illustration
    17        for the advertisement -- the chart does give that
    18        information on the regular hamburger.
    19
    20        They were trying a little bit of a show game on us here,
    21        to deny the truth of our accusation by denying there was a
    22        basis for the accusation.  The fact that it was in the
    23        text, they go on to qualify that it was only in a chart.
    24        I notice a lot of the other disclosures that McDonald's
    25        gives of the semi-bad facts in there about, that they do
    26        give on nutritional aspects of their food are also put
    27        only in charts.
    28
    29        But, nonetheless, they did give that information in the
    30        advertisement.  It did not happen to be in there; it was
    31        deliberately placed in there by McDonald's as part of the
    32        chart, as part of the information they chose to give
    33        people.  Therefore, we stand by what we said.  It, in
    34        fact, does not mention the saturated fat content of
    35        irregular hamburgers in this chart.  It says fat, but we
    36        do not know how much saturated fat is in there.  We do
    37        know how much saturated fat is in the regular fries
    38        because McDonald's chose to tell us that in the body copy,
    39        in the text under:  "What about our world famous french
    40        fries in that ad?" They tell us that.  They do not -- they
    41        want us to know that, but they do not tell us the
    42        saturated fat content of the regular hamburger.  I, as a
    43        consumer, cannot determine that.
    44
    45   Q.   Why would people be concerned about keeping their
    46        cholesterol levels down?
    47        A.  There is a fairly well-established link between
    48        elevated cholesterol levels anywhere from about 250 and up
    49        and heart disease.
    50 
    51   Q.   So people who are concerned about their cholesterol levels 
    52        or not eating too much, food with too much cholesterol in, 
    53        that would be for health reasons?
    54        A.  Yes, but both food without much cholesterol in it and
    55        food that while it does not have any cholesterol itself,
    56        has something that makes it cholesterolaemia, something
    57        that would make it raise the cholesterol level in your
    58        body.  You can raise your cholesterol by consuming
    59        cholesterol which the body then assimilates into the serum
    60        cholesterol in the body, or you can raise your serum

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