Day 044 - 02 Nov 94 - Page 52
1 not discussed in the meetings that I attended in the United
2 States.
3
4 Q. Right. So, in other words, if the law of a country does
5 not specifically outlaw the exploitation of the loneliness
6 of a child, then McDonald's would be quite happy to use
7 those techniques in other countries?
8 A. That is not true at all. That is not what I said.
9 I said the conferences I attended did not discuss these
10 kinds of matters. There may have been other conferences
11 which I did not attend, but the ones I did attend did not
12 discuss them.
13
14 Q. Is McDonald's open to criticism?
15 A. Absolutely.
16
17 Q. And would take criticism seriously?
18 A. Yes, they do.
19
20 Q. Here you have something which obviously strikes at the
21 heart which has been admitted (so there is no doubt about
22 this), strikes at the absolute core -----
23
24 MR. RAMPTON: Hang on.
25
26 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Let him just finish the question, Mr.
27 Rampton.
28
29 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, no. It is a question of what has been
30 admitted. The witness should not be mislead.
31
32 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Remind us of that.
33
34 MR. RAMPTON: What has been admitted is what the authority
35 found.
36
37 MR. MORRIS: Yes, all right. The authority found that "in or
38 around April 1990 a court in Finland banned a McDonald's
39 television advertisement. It stated that it exploited the
40 loneliness of a child and could give the impression that
41 McDonald's products can replace friends or lessen
42 loneliness, and the advertisement showed a boy unhappily
43 surveying what was to be his new home, and his despair
44 turning to joy when he saw McDonald's across the street."
45
46 Here we have some fairly strong criticism of something
47 which would be absolutely central to the sort of concerns
48 you have, yes, what you put in your ads directed at
49 children; is that correct?
50 A. It certainly would be a concern.
51
52 Q. Yes. I think this comes under the definition of a "magic
53 moment", an important moment in a child's life, is that
54 correct, a new home and being unhappy and McDonald's
55 providing happiness?
56 A. Certainly.
57
58 Q. Is that all?
59 A. I would call it an important moment, but again I have
60 not seen the commercial.
