Day 299 - 13 Nov 96 - Page 05


     
     1        I have just mentioned, and we would also include happy
     2        meals and toys and other promotional -- I can't remember
     3        what you call them -- so-called give-aways.  It is not just
     4        toys; there were things like sunglasses and beakers, things
     5        like that.  All those things we would describe as the
     6        gimmickry.
     7
     8        For that matter, another gimmickry is the artificial
     9        colouring of food to make it more appealing and more
    10        attractive, such as in the milkshakes and so on.  I think
    11        we heard evidence that it does mean that people are more
    12        likely to buy the food if it is artificially coloured, or
    13        that is the reason why the company does it.  And the same
    14        with spraying sugar solution on chips, although there was a
    15        claim that that was to help the workers tell how long they
    16        had been cooked for.  But it is clearly designed to make
    17        the food look more attractive.
    18
    19   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   What it seems to me is, there may be an
    20        argument about whether they use gimmicks or not but I have
    21        not seen that as the main area of dispute because it may be
    22        a question of one's own view as to whether hats -----
    23
    24   MS. STEEL:   Something is a gimmick.  That is why I was saying
    25        it is my opinion.
    26
    27   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Let us assume that you are right, that they
    28        can be called in ordinary English, gimmicks.  What it seems
    29        to me is defamatory, if anything is, if the meaning which
    30        the Plaintiffs have pleaded in 'I','J' and 'K' is the
    31        meaning, is that they are using the gimmicks to cover up
    32        the fact that the food is of low character.
    33
    34   MS. STEEL:   Low what, sorry?
    35
    36   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  To cover up the fact that the food is of low
    37        quality.  Do you see what I mean?  I mean, it may be said
    38        there is nothing wrong with using gimmicks.  The defamatory
    39        bit is doing it to try and make people think your food is
    40        of -----
    41
    42   MS. STEEL:   I did say it is difficult to tell exactly what the
    43        Plaintiffs are complaining about.  I just feel that I have
    44        to go through the fact that it is clear that they are using
    45        gimmicks, you know, to deal with that part of the Statement
    46        of Claim.
    47
    48   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Let me just carry on, and then you can see
    49        where I am.  That they are using advertising; well, of
    50        course they are using advertising, there may be a dispute
    51        about the extent to which they use it on children, but I
    52        will have to sort that out.  Suppose at the end of the day
    53        I thought that a significant proportion of their
    54        advertising is directed at children, then the question
    55        might be: are they doing that to make children think they
    56        are not normal if they do not go to McDonald's?  And,,
    57        quite apart from that, doing it in order to get children to
    58        pressurise their parents to take them there.
    59
    60   MS. STEEL:   I am coming on to that part later.

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