Day 300 - 14 Nov 96 - Page 18


     
     1        Obviously, her concerns about that were that the products
     2        sold by McDonald's were unhealthy so it was not a good idea
     3        for them to be given apparent endorsement by respected
     4        figures.
     5
     6        She also talked about sponsorship, and said that
     7        sponsorship tends to be seen in a more positive light than
     8        advertising, that sponsorship was increasing and was
     9        particularly popular with the manufacturers of products or
    10        services who think that by being associated with a
    11        particular organisation or project that will enable their
    12        company to be seen in a good light, and that by being seen
    13        in a good light it would deflect criticisms that may be
    14        raised about that company, or it might mitigate against the
    15        criticisms.  Also that, at the same time, the sponsorship
    16        was part of their promotional activity and the goodwill
    17        that might be generated as a result of it would be good for
    18        their business.  That was day 54, page 57, from line 51
    19        onwards.
    20
    21        In actual fact I did not get time to read any of the other
    22        evidence of Miss Dibb.  It is my recollection that it was
    23        broadly similar for the rest of the time anyway.
    24
    25   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Yes.
    26
    27   MS. STEEL:   There were some bits in bundle 7 which I did not
    28        mention yesterday, which I would just like to remind you.
    29        There is not a massive amount, but I might as well do it
    30        and get it out of the way.  These are related to, I am
    31        afraid, various different points.  This is in tab 18, the
    32        1989 OPNAD Annual Report.  On page 390 it says that
    33        "McDonald's continued to strengthen its number one
    34        position amongst kids".
    35
    36   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Can you just pause, I am having trouble with
    37        the bundle.  (Pause).
    38
    39   MS. STEEL:   That, in addition to the ronald mcdonald theme and
    40        'tween' advertising, OPNAD supported its kids business
    41        with the successful McNugget Buddies, Disney Racers, food
    42        changeables, Garfield, Lego, and Rescue Ranger promotional
    43        Happy Meals.  McDonald's kept kids attention throughout the
    44        year with the Little Gardener, Halloween and Little Mermaid
    45        continuity Happy Meal.
    46
    47        So McDonald's is saying here that despite the fact that
    48        they are already in number one position amongst kids,
    49        because of their massive use of advertising to bombard the
    50        children, they are not even satisfied with that and they
    51        are going to continue to strengthen that position.  That
    52        they deliberately kept kids' attention throughout the year
    53        by the use of Happy Meals and, obviously, many of those
    54        happy meal promotional toys that are referred to -- Disney
    55        Racers, Garfield, Lego and Rescue Rangers and Little
    56        Mermaid -- are going to be very popular toys.  So it is all
    57        about using popular toys to draw children in to the
    58        restaurants to get them or their parents to buy the food
    59        and increase McDonald's profits, which we would say is
    60        obviously exploitation.

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