Day 042 - 31 Oct 94 - Page 46
1 you are trying to make it.
2
3 MS. STEEL: Can we carry on with the ads, because there were
4 some other points I wanted to make.
5
6 (The next advertisement was shown)
7
8 MS. STEEL: What was the first and last shot in that
9 advertisement?
10 A. I may need to see it again. The shot preceding that,
11 you mean?
12
13 Q. Yes. Not that one. Sorry.
14 A. The opening shot was the inside of a restaurant, a
15 simulated restaurant.
16
17 Q. The inside of a restaurant and a child sitting on his own?
18 A. Yes, that is true.
19
20 Q. Is that not something that the Golden Arches guidelines
21 says that your advertisements should not show?
22 A. The judgment is one of whether or not that child looked
23 old enough to be on his own and whether or not it seemed in
24 that kind of setting to be realistic. The ITC, who also
25 have a ruling on this -- we demonstrate that you should not
26 have young children being seen without some supervisory
27 person -- again approved the ad, on the basis that they did
28 not consider it to be threatening to the child in any way.
29
30 Q. Can you get bundle VII, that is, the pink one -- I think
31 that is the one you have there -- and turn to tab 9?
32 Page 156, No. 8 says:
33
34 "Children must not be depicted coming into or seated
35 in a McDonald's restaurant without an adult. In general,
36 adults should always accompany children in McDonald's
37 advertising."
38
39 That does not say there "young children", or indicate
40 any age group, does it? It just says "children".
41 A. No. I think, in that specific commercial, there are
42 two elements to it: one is that it is obviously not a real
43 McDonald's restaurant. I mean, that is fairly obvious from
44 the whole story line and the look of the commercial. That
45 is one point to do with this. The general point I was
46 making was an ITC one, which also ensures that you should
47 not show children, young children, that obviously look as
48 if they should be with an adult, without -- if that is
49 English -- and they were quite happy to accept this
50 commercial on that basis.
51
52 Q. So what age are you suggesting that child is, then?
53 A. It is one of look, that is difficult to determine
54 there. I do not know; you may put that child at, what, 13,
55 14, perhaps?
56
57 Q. If that child is 13 or 14, does that mean that the
58 advertisement is aimed at that age group?
59 A. No. It is aimed at anyone, any sort of child who would
60 be interested in that particular property we are selling
