Day 312 - 11 Dec 96 - Page 30
1
2 (B), in any event, there ought to be privilege akin to the
3 general defence in crime that a person publishing words is
4 doing so in order to defend or safeguard the right or
5 rights of others, particularly in this case the rights of
6 employees, children and animals. And, for example, the
7 evidence is that it is a "summary sackable offence" for any
8 UK McDonald's employee to report details of working
9 conditions to an outside third party, including media and
10 trade unions, and that is even about illegalities, which
11 Mr. Nicholson, McDonald's UK former Head of Personnel,
12 testified would lead to a reprimand. Therefore, these
13 employees are unable to exercise freedom of speech without
14 risking their livelihood and they need someone to defend
15 their interests, especially in the light of the Company's
16 unlawful contractual prescription against any kind of trade
17 union activity.
18
19 The low pay, hard work and lack of rights experienced by
20 people with few job prospects can be considered an attack,
21 which we say would justify privileged self-defence by
22 others taking up their interests for them.
23
24 Additionally, by way of example, the evidence is that the
25 Company target children with their advertising, and they
26 use techniques which are gathered to have an emotional
27 response in children, and that is especially in relation to
28 their ronald mcdonald marketing tool, and that the
29 Corporation senior vice president of marketing in the USA
30 agreed that "children are virgin ground so far as marketing
31 is concerned". Therefore, as children are clearly unable
32 to protect themselves from the effect of such marketing and
33 need someone to defend their interests, they need someone
34 to protect them from this type of attack.
35
36 The last example is the evidence that tens of millions of
37 animals reared and slaughtered under McDonald's use in the
38 UK suffer, at all stages of their unnatural and short lives
39 -- and suffering was admitted to be inevitable by
40 Mr. Walker, the owner of McDonald's UK-sold hamburger
41 supply. It is clear that animals are completely
42 defenceless and need somebody to defend their interests and
43 to protect them from this attack.
44
45 We therefore submit that the distribution of the words
46 complained of and similar ones, which have the character of
47 a response to the continuing and real attacks as outlined
48 above, are protected by the defence of qualified and
49 privileged self-defence.
50
51 We note that McDonald's claims such a privilege for the
52 response to the mere expressions of opinion against the
53 Plaintiffs... There were a couple of words missing there.
54
55 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
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57 MS. STEEL: -- which it should be emphasised has a huge
58 advertising and promotions budget and phenomenally
59 successful PR department to put over its point of view and,
60 in contrast, the abovementioned effect of the Company on
