Day 042 - 31 Oct 94 - Page 37


     
     1        A.  The character, yes.
     2
     3   MS. STEEL:   A Big Mac character -- sorry -- did you say?
     4        A.  Yes.
     5
     6   Q.   Does that help to promote Big Macs, for example?
     7        A.  To children?
     8
     9   Q.   In general.
    10        A.  I would not have said so, no.  The characters
    11        themselves have their own kind of personality and they all
    12        look in different ways.  I mean, it looks like a hamburger
    13        product.
    14
    15   Q.   But it is actually a Big Mac?
    16        A.  I meant the Big Mac was a hamburger product.  It looks
    17        like -- the head looks like a Big Mac product.
    18
    19   MR. MORRIS:  So that is not promoting the Big Mac, but it is a
    20        picture of a Big Mac in the middle of an exciting -- kids
    21        going wild?
    22        A.  If we were going to be promoting Big Mac, that is not
    23        how we would do it.  It is just one of the characters in a
    24        whole array of McDonald's characters that add to this food,
    25        fun experience of McDonald's.  It does not specifically
    26        promote one particular character, no.
    27
    28   MS. STEEL:   Children play with food, though, do they not?  They
    29        kind of-----
    30        A.  In the restaurants, do you mean?
    31
    32   Q.   In restaurants and elsewhere.  I do not think that is
    33        something peculiar to McDonald's, necessarily?
    34        A.  Well, you mean they play with it on the plate, or
    35        whatever?
    36
    37   Q.   Like a mother, when she is trying to get the child to eat a
    38        slice of toast, might say:  "Here comes a choo-choo", or
    39        something like that, and then kids kind of do that kind of
    40        thing as they are growing up?
    41        A.  Not being an expert on that, exactly, but I know what
    42        you mean about the soldiers, yes, I have heard that.
    43
    44   Q.   Is that kind of the idea behind having these characters
    45        that are actual food products?
    46        A.  No, it is not, no.  They are just fun characters that
    47        were designed out of well-known shapes and products that
    48        come from the company.  We did the same with the fry box in
    49        the ballooning commercial.
    50 
    51   Q.   To associate the two things? 
    52        A.  Obviously to associate, yes. 
    53
    54   MR. MORRIS:  The purpose of associating something, presumably,
    55        is to encourage children to buy?
    56        A.  No.  The purpose is to encourage the association with
    57        the child to want to visit McDonald's.
    58
    59   MS. STEEL:  And to make those products more familiar to them?
    60        A.  All the products that appear in our commercials are

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