Day 012 - 18 Jul 94 - Page 72
1 General, even though there has been a lot of publicity,
I cannot recall one consent decree agreement of
2 discontinuance, One thing that ever was developed by them
into a showing of wrong doing any sort by McDonald's
3 Corporation -- even as we are sitting here today.
4 Q. I think we will come back to that. You are basically
saying they were not acting out of concern for consumers
5 in their areas?
A. It is possible they were, but I think they are
6 motivated in part, maybe even a large part, by the amount
of publicity they can cover by going to McDonald's as
7 opposed to smaller, quick service operations by which they
can get the same things done but against which they do not
8 normally go. So, in general, my answer to your question
is yes.
9
Q. Is McDonald's a popular organisation in the United States?
10 A. Popular? Do you mean, as it were, is it well liked?
11 Q. Yes.
A. Yes, I think it is well liked and well attended. In
12 terms of quick service establishments, it is the most well
liked in terms of service.
13
Q. So you were mentioning something about elections coming up
14 and further budgets?
A. Yes, I did.
15
Q. So, if McDonald's is popular, why should these
16 organisations get extra money if they criticise
McDonald's?
17 A. Oh, not with specific regard to any of the three but
in the answer to your general question, that
18 organisations, governmental organisations, and offices, by
showing that they are aggressively doing things, the way
19 they show it is not just by getting consent decrees and
notices of discontinuance and decrees of discontinuance,
20 but also by showing how much publicity and awareness they
create for their offices. That goes a long way in the
21 United States to help in terms of allocations and further
allocations.
22
Q. You mentioned earlier this morning that the Attorneys
23 General was an elected office?
A. Yes, that is correct.
24
Q. So, presumably, if they took action that was not
25 considered popular with a lot of people in the United
States they might be voted out of office?
26 A. That is possible in their states, within their states,
not within the United States.
27
Q. So it might be they were taking action against McDonald's
28 because consumers were concerned about these issues and
they were representing consumers in their states?
29 A. I am not saying that cannot be a part of it. As a
matter of fact, Mr. Mattox is no longer in office;
30 Mr. Van Der Kamp is no longer in office; Mr. Abrams is no
longer in office.
