Day 042 - 31 Oct 94 - Page 27
1
2 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, this is a complete waste of time. In
3 evidence-in-chief, Mr. Hawkes said that ronald mcdonald was
4 a useful marketing tool, or a valuable marketing tool. It
5 is a complete nonsense, with the greatest possible respect.
6
7 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You also gave an answer to me on Friday
8 afternoon, which is the one I referred to before. I did
9 not make a full note of it, but the effect of it was that
10 the advertising to children was to get young children who
11 do not come in on their own to persuade their parents to
12 take them in, thereby-----
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14 MS. STEEL: But there still seems to be -- they are saying-----
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16 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I do not know what Mr. Green will say when he
17 gives evidence, but I am quite clear that that is what
18 Mr. Hawkes is saying.
19
20 MS. STEEL: It is just that they keep saying about going in for
21 the experience.
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23 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes. Well, the experience is all part of
24 the -- let me just say the way I understand it. The
25 McDonald's experience is attractive, not just the food, but
26 the whole business of going to McDonald's is a treat and
27 fun; that makes children want to go to McDonald's, and that
28 leads to them attempting to persuade their parents to take
29 them to McDonald's; that means, when they go there,
30 McDonald's sell food; that means that McDonald's and their
31 franchisees and managers increase their turnover and
32 increase their profits. Is there any issue about that in
33 your mind at all?
34
35 THE WITNESS: No, there is not.
36
37 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think you achieved that with that question
38 and answer on Friday afternoon. I did think, reading the
39 statements, there might be some kind of issue about it, but
40 when I heard Mr. Hawkes's answer, clearly, as far as he is
41 concerned, there was not.
42
43 MS. STEEL: Okay. Carry on.
44
45 MR. MORRIS: Just one point I was going to ask about that last
46 ad was, the child keeps the fact of ronald mcdonald being
47 there as a secret from his parents. As a parent, they
48 might find that quite disturbing. What do you think about
49 that?
50 A. I do not agree, really. The relationship in that
51 particular commercial is pure fun and fantasy, and it is
52 between the child and Ronald; that is all.
53
54 MS. STEEL: Is Ronald just a fantasy?
55 A. On that level, yes, he is, because he does magical
56 things, and he disappears and everything else, but he is
57 obviously real in the restaurant.
58
59 Q. So you are confusing a child's fantasy world with reality?
60 A. No, I am not. I think we have to -- we perhaps have
