Day 042 - 31 Oct 94 - Page 14
1 it, because he is not aware of it.
2
3 MS. STEEL: If a complaint gets made against McDonald's in any
4 country, how seriously does it get taken?
5 A. Well, very seriously.
6
7 Q. Is it something that the company would be anxious not to
8 repeat?
9 A. We would try not to. I mean, it is obviously not in
10 our interests to do anything that is detrimental to our
11 brand.
12
13 Q. I think you said before that you do not get many
14 complaints?
15 A. Given the numbers of people -- I do not know. Our
16 complaints department, I am sure, can tell you. But given
17 the numbers of people we serve, that is the case.
18
19 Q. Official complaints?
20 A. Yes.
21
22 MR. JUSTICE BELL: In relation to advertising?
23
24 MS. STEEL: Advertising.
25 A. That is correct, yes.
26
27 Q. Is there no communication between the different sections of
28 the corporation, if you like, in each country?
29 A. There is, yes, but not on a day-to-day basis and not in
30 terms of the detail that some of this goes into.
31
32 Q. They would not, kind of, make general points about: "Be
33 careful not to use this form of advertising, because it has
34 been ruled deceptive, or thought to be deceptive"?
35 A. That is true, anyway. We do not set about to produce
36 any kind of misleading advertisement. It would not need to
37 be a question of talking to other countries about it. We
38 thoroughly went into this particular ad before it actually
39 went to press, and we believed all the facts in it to be
40 true. We do everything we can to ensure that. Now, once
41 in a while, it may be that we err, in which case we then
42 take the action that is necessary; and, in this case, we
43 withdrew the ad.
44
45 Q. Ads can be misleading or deceptive, even if they do not
46 actually contain any untrue sentences, can they not?
47 A. You can be -- I suppose they could be, yes, but that
48 does not mean they are not acceptable as advertising.
49 Misleading advertising sets out to mislead.
50
51 Q. You do not think this one was?
52 A. We certainly did not set out to mislead but, as the ASA
53 upheld this complaint, then we were quite happy to say that
54 on this occasion we were wrong, and that is why we withdrew
55 the ad.
56
57 Q. This was misleading by omission?
58 A. By emission?
59
60 Q. By omission: you omitted to mention all the other
