Day 299 - 13 Nov 96 - Page 12


     
     1
     2        Mr. Hawkes.  Well, we heard firstly that in 1993 McDonald's
     3        worldwide expenditure for advertising and promotions
     4        totalled 1.4 billion dollars, which is about six percent of
     5        sales; that 870 million dollars was spent annually in the
     6        USA alone; that McDonald's UK spent approximately 35
     7        million pounds per year on advertising.  Those figures have
     8        gone up now, because it is 1.8 billion dollars per year, or
     9        1.8 billion dollars advertising and promotion spent for
    10        1995, and it is clear that McDonald's are bombarding the
    11        public, both children and adults, with a huge amount of
    12        advertising.
    13
    14        I cannot remember who specifically referred to this, but we
    15        did see some figures that McDonald's were vying with
    16        Coca-Cola for the two top positions of the most advertised
    17        brand in the world.  Sometimes McDonald's were coming
    18        first, sometimes Coca-Cola were coming first.  So I think
    19        that this whole section of the case has to be taken in that
    20        context of the massive amount that they spend overall on
    21        advertising.
    22
    23        Mr. Hawkes, who was McDonald's UK chief marketing officer,
    24        said that the purpose of advertising was communication and
    25        persuasion in order to foster brand awareness and loyalty
    26        in order to increase sales, and he said you have to keep
    27        the name in front of people's mind and without advertising
    28        you might see the company decline completely, which is what
    29        I was referring to before.
    30
    31        It is clear that this relates to adults as well as children
    32        -- rather to children as well as adults, that it is all
    33        about persuading people to buy something which they would
    34        not otherwise buy.  That is the effect of the admission
    35        that without advertising you might see the company decline
    36        completely.  If the products that McDonald's were selling
    37        were so good and so necessary to people, then they would
    38        not need to advertise.  The reality is that the company is
    39        based entirely on hype and, effectively, brainwashing.  I
    40        mean, the quote that you have to keep your name in the
    41        front of people's minds sums it all up really.  It is all
    42        about getting into people's minds and making them think
    43        about your company, making them think about the McDonald's
    44        company.  And that applies to children as well as adults.
    45
    46        Mr. Hawkes said that McDonald's concentrated on TV as the
    47        "most powerful advertising medium" and that in the UK the
    48        company advertises on TV to children - he was referring
    49        particularly to two to eight year olds - most weeks of the
    50        year.  I am going to go into those figures in more detail
    51        later.  And again, something which we would consider to be
    52        extremely sinister.
    53
    54        Mr. Hawkes hoped that teaching children McDonald's songs
    55        would "keep the memory of McDonald's at the forefront of
    56        their minds, so they can again ask their parents if they
    57        can come to McDonald's".  We would say that that is clear
    58        manipulation and exploitation of children through the use
    59        of their advertising.
    60

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