Day 300 - 14 Nov 96 - Page 13


     
     1   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Yes.  (Pause)
     2
     3   MS. STEEL:   Just on the pester power, it is ----
     4
     5   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  That is your next one, is it?
     6
     7   MS. STEEL:   I was going to say that it is exploitation of
     8        children to use them in order to gain profits from their
     9        parents.  (Pause)
    10
    11   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Yes.  I have got one more matter in mind and
    12        that is the getting them to eat, I will just say, poor
    13        food.
    14
    15   MS. STEEL:   Yes, junk food.  Junk food which is bad for their
    16        health and that would include - which I presume would not
    17        be remotely challenged - the fact that there is loads of
    18        sugar in it which is not good for their teeth, apart from
    19        anything else.
    20
    21   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I am not asking you to elaborate now.  I just
    22        want to get them down.  For myself at the moment, I cannot
    23        see anything else which you might say is -----
    24
    25   MS. STEEL:   There is more details, but they really all come
    26        under the general heading ----
    27
    28   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I just want the little boxes.  Right.  Yes.
    29
    30   MR. MORRIS:   Is ronald mcdonald part of the gimmick?   I think
    31        the use of a character has particularly been identified as
    32        exploitation, and some countries have banned the use of
    33        characters to market through the products especially
    34        because of the emotional -----
    35
    36   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Well, 'Ronald', I was going to make a note
    37         -----
    38
    39   MR. MORRIS:   Particularly the emotional relationship that they
    40        are encouraging with the character.
    41
    42   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   I am just looking at what is in the leaflet
    43        for the moment.  Yes.  Is there anything you particularly
    44        want to say why you would say the exploitation of children
    45        is a comment rather than a statement of fact?   I must say
    46        I don't find the distinction at all easy in the context of
    47        this case.
    48
    49   MS. STEEL:   I think, yes, I mean -----
    50
    51   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It may be obvious, if someone sets out a
    52        number of matters in an article which are clearly
    53        statements of alleged fact and then comes at the end to
    54        say, 'for all these reasons we would say that X is
    55        exploiting Y', but I don't find comment at all easy in the
    56        context, in the way this leaflet is expressed.
    57
    58   MS. STEEL:   I think, I mean, it is difficult, because our view
    59        is that it is a fact that they do exploit children.  But we
    60        are aware that exploitation is something that different

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