Day 296 - 07 Nov 96 - Page 05
1 it might have a bearing on what we have called advertising,
2 but I suppose it includes marketing as well.
3
4 MR. RAMPTON: Yes, my Lord. That comes from a passage in the
5 children part of the leaflet, where they say McDonald's use
6 gimmicks to hide the mediocre quality which can be at worst
7 poisonous.
8
9 MS. STEEL: It is just that obviously I have got to go on to
10 advertising next week and it would make life easier -- I
11 mean, Mr. Rampton is saying that he thinks it is pretty
12 trivial -- it would make life easier if it was just dropped
13 by the Plaintiffs and was not something that needed to be
14 dealt with at all, if that is how they feel about it.
15
16 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. I would treat it as still being in,
17 because Mr. Rampton has not dropped it and I can see that
18 the first line and a half about it does rather go with
19 'K'. It is all part of, one is pushing meals so that they
20 eat low quality food, that is the beginning of 'I', and
21 pushing food when it might poison them, which is 'K'. I
22 mean, I am not saying those are meanings I will find, but
23 they are the ones which the Plaintiffs are batting for.
24
25 MS. STEEL: Right.
26
27 MR. JUSTICE BELL: But I would bear those in mind in relation
28 to the advertising part of the case when you do come to
29 deal with advertising and you come to say what you say the
30 meaning is and when you come to argue in so far as the
31 meaning you are batting for is different to the pleaded
32 one, when you come to tell me why you say it does not mean
33 what the Plaintiffs say it is, deal with the beginning of
34 'I' and 'K'.
35
36 MS. STEEL: Okay. I mean, I am not particularly worried
37 because I think we have proved it, but it is just that the
38 more points there are, the more confusing it is. It just
39 clarifies things if we know where we stand.
40
41 MR. JUSTICE BELL: So far as nutrition is concerned, you do not
42 have to worry your head about any possible meaning except
43 the one I have found it does actually bear.
44
45 MS. STEEL: All right. I was going to say that we presumed
46 that the ruling that you made on 15th January this year
47 cannot be challenged, but obviously, if that was wrong,
48 then we would seek to advance the same argument that we
49 advanced last November in respect of what we believe the
50 leaflet means.
51
52 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That is all water under the bridge.
53
54 MS. STEEL: Right.
55
56 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
57
58 MR. MORRIS: The only thing I am concerned about -- yes, the
59 only thing is that -- (Pause) I mean, I think that your
60 meaning is -- you know, when you said that we should point
