Day 025 - 16 Sep 94 - Page 29
1 A. Yes, that is what I was about to say. My memory is
2 that 300 milligrams is at the top end of cholesterol
3 consumption in a given day.
4
5 Q. His Lordship's point is this, I think. The cholesterol
6 content of the regular hamburger, 29 milligrams, is, in
7 fact, just over 11 per cent of 263, which is the total
8 calorie content of a regular hamburger. That is right, is
9 it not? It is more than 10 per cent of the content of the
10 item?
11 A. I understand the question; I understand the statement,
12 rather.
13
14 Q. Would you not agree that, in fact, the cholesterol content
15 of the regular hamburger, in contrast with your letter,
16 is, in fact, relatively high?
17 A. No, sir. As I said earlier, it is relative to other
18 products of a like nature, relative to the other hamburger
19 products that are contained, whose numbers are contained
20 within the "Leaner" ad -- that is the next ad in this
21 particular brochure -- the numbers, the amount of
22 cholesterol itself is much higher.
23
24 Q. So are you saying this, that if this advertisement were
25 not to be held to be deceptive, instead of a regular
26 hamburger they should have chosen to insert in the table,
27 for example, the quarter pounder with cheese, which has a
28 cholesterol content of 107 milligrams. Is that what you
29 are saying, for example?
30 A. Well, I will try to answer that. I tend not to think
31 in that manner because I do not write advertisements for
32 companies. I do not suggest what more appropriately might
33 be in the advertisement because that would be a form,
34 I think, of prior restraint. Instead, I take the
35 advertisements as they appear, not as they might appear.
36 I, therefore, am at a bit of a loss to make that
37 speculation for you.
38
39 Q. How would you have made the case in court, assuming it had
40 got there?
41 A. My job is to point out how the ad as it appears is
42 deceptive, not how it might be cured. I believe I told
43 you how it might be deceptive.
44
45 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What would you point to in the cholesterol
46 ad, because that is what point (3) relates to, to say to
47 judge or jury, that cholesterol ad emphasises the
48 relatively low -- then I see what is in parentheses -- but
49 "emphasises the relatively low cholesterol content of the
50 regular hamburger"?
51 A. For that, your Lordship, I would point to, as I said,
52 the chart to show where the ad does emphasise it. Where
53 I would show that it was relatively low is in comparison
54 and relative to, therefore, other like products, other
55 hamburgers served by McDonald's. I think those are the
56 only two points in the question your Lordship just asked
57 me.
58
59 MR. RAMPTON: I do not know about America generally, but in the
60 courts of Texas is it your experience that it does not
