Day 012 - 18 Jul 94 - Page 61
1 importance of avoiding too much saturated fat,
cholesterol and sodium, and to urge consumers to balance
2 what they eat at McDonald's with the other meals they eat.
3 I can assure you that McDonald's will listen carefully to
your concerns and any specific suggestions you may have.
4 McDonald's took great pains to make the advertisements
accurate and fair. If they can be improved McDonald's
5 will want to improve them.
6 We see over the page on page 171 the existing schedule of
when the advertisements would appear. We see that sodium,
7 first page only, was due to appear on May 26th; the Real
Milk advertisement on May 16th, first page only; various
8 other ones under Real Milk one again on April 14th which,
of course, was after the date of this letter, was it not?
9 A. Yes, Sir.
10 Q. Did the Attorney General of Texas through his subordinate,
Mr. Steve Gardner, ever give McDonald's the opportunity of
11 building upon Dewey Ballantine's letter of, I think it
was, 4th May, to explain why it was face to face the
12 advertisements were not misleading?
A. No, it did not.
13
Q. So far as you know, in your files is there any response to
14 this letter of 12th May from Mr. Gardner?
A. Not that I am aware of.
15
MR. RAMPTON: Please remain there.
16
MR. JUSTICE BELL: Thank you, Mr. Rampton. It is just the
17 matter which led me to ask whether you knew whether
Mr. Gardner was vegetarian -- not that that may matter one
18 way or the other -- but I thought you referred to a group
before which made me ask that question?
19 A. Yes, sorry for interrupting.
20 Q. Can you say again that so the defendants can hear what the
name of the group was?
21 A. Well, the group, I was referring to the group of the
three Attorneys General, New York, California and Texas.
22 Clearly Mr. Mandell was a vegetarian and indicated that to
me, and bragged repeatedly that he had not eaten meat in
23 20 years. It is my recollection that Mr. Elkin, from
having met him or some of his staff, were also
24 vegetarians; I cannot recall specifically concerning
Mr. Gardner.
25
Q. But you were not suggesting they were a member of some
26 formal group?
A. No.
27
Q. Pressure group or anything of that kind?
28 A. No, my Lord.
29 Cross-Examined by the defendants.
30 MR. MORRIS: Could we just have a couple of minutes?
