Day 300 - 14 Nov 96 - Page 36
1 McDonald's who does not want to take his kids to McDonald's
2 all the time. So what it is like for other parents, we can
3 all work that out for ourselves.
4
5 He said: But I see on the high street every day kids
6 tugging on mum's coat, I want to go here, I want to go
7 there, I want to buy this, I want to buy that. I do not
8 find that particularly unusual, but did I say in that
9 sentence alone. This is the sentence about it was pressure
10 from kids which brought their parents into our
11 restaurants. He said: I probably said it, but I would
12 have said other things with it.
13
14 So there he is basically saying that he agrees with that,
15 he agrees with the statement it was pressure from kids
16 which brought their parents into our restaurants. So
17 Mr. Preston, McDonald's UK President, is admitting pressure
18 is effectively exactly the same as pester power, and it
19 results -----
20
21 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You have absolutely no need to mention
22 pester power. You have used the word which is in the
23 leaflet, "pressure".
24
25 MS. STEEL: I just think the point is that, you know,
26 McDonald's witnesses are accepting it but for some reason
27 Mr. Rampton will not. It does not really matter which word
28 you use.
29
30 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It is when you get on to pester power all the
31 time. I think pester power - you used the phrase "red
32 herring" - is a great red herring, because it is a
33 pejorative expression when "pressure" may be quite enough
34 for your purposes.
35
36 MS. STEEL: I know the leaflet does not say pester.
37
38 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It says the pressure this puts on people
39 looking after children. It is entirely up to you the way
40 you make your submissions, but, as I have said to you
41 before, if an ordinary word, rather than one which is very
42 emotive, gets you home, why not be satisfied with that.
43
44 MS. STEEL: It is just that I think that pestering and
45 pressurising are the same thing, so I don't see what the
46 fuss is about.
47
48 MR. JUSTICE BELL: They are not the same thing in my family.
49
50 MS. STEEL: We do not really get much pressure from a single
51 polite request. You get some, but -----
52
53 MR. JUSTICE BELL: There you are. If you say that, I will
54 accept it. I thought you might say there was such a bond
55 of affection between a parent and child, and the parent is
56 so devoted to the child that it would like to please the
57 child, and it is unfortunate if the child puts any pressure
58 even well short of pestering on the parent to do what the
59 parent would not otherwise do.
60
