Day 298 - 11 Nov 96 - Page 17


     
     1        eating less than a certain amount of months would mean that
     2        consequently in compensation other people would be eating
     3        for a very substantial amount of time, to achieve those
     4        average figures that we have heard about, regularity of
     5        visits.  Especially when you consider that McDonald's are
     6        targeting the heavy users and are trying to keep the people
     7        that are eating there most often as eating there most often
     8        in the future, even more often in the future.
     9
    10        McDonald's knows what it is doing with its advertising
    11        strategy, to say the least.  They would not be doing that
    12        if they thought that people eating there regularly were
    13        only likely to do that for a short time.  They would be
    14        wasting their advertising dollars.
    15
    16        Can I just say, and I have not done equivalent
    17        calculations, that Tim Lobstein had a different approach,
    18        which was the total grams of fat from McDonald's meals
    19        compared could to the total grams that you would be very
    20        unwise to eat more of in a day, and even he was comparing
    21        it with the recommendations rather than scientifically
    22        healthy maximums.
    23
    24        But it struck me that his approach would be even more
    25        damning of McDonald's food as a contribution to some
    26        people's diet.  He was only talking about fat, but I think
    27        we did refer to it a bit earlier on, so I am not going to
    28        go over that ground.
    29
    30        The final thing I want to say on this subject is regarding
    31        the meaning that you set.  Helen has already made the point
    32        that you talk about McDonald's food, it is very unhealthy,
    33        that we have to prove, and we have already made the point
    34        that McDonald's food in the eyes of the public is about
    35        their certain products, which we are talking about
    36        basically hamburgers, chips and milkshake or hamburgers,
    37        chips and cola.  That is the image that people have of
    38        McDonald's food.  We are here talking about perception,
    39        meaning of the leaflet, of the words complained of.
    40
    41        So all the other products that might be brought into the
    42        equation kind of are, we would say, irrelevant in terms of
    43        the meaning because it is a certain type of food, not just
    44        McDonald's food but also the leaflet specifically states
    45        hamburgers, chips, colas and shakes, so that is clearly the
    46        image that people would get from reading the fact sheet.
    47
    48        And, secondly, in your meaning you say because eating it
    49        may well make your diet high in fat, sugar and animal
    50        products, salt, and low in fibre, vitamins and minerals,
    51        when we say eating it, we are talking about eating that
    52        kind of food, the McDonald's food, the burgers, chips and
    53        cola, et cetera.
    54
    55        And therefore the meaning is if you eat that kind of food
    56        to some kind of extent it may, and I emphasise the word
    57        "may" in your meaning, may well make your diet high in, et
    58        cetera, et cetera.  So even though we feel we have proved
    59        conclusively that some people do, the reality is that they
    60        are having their diets substantially affected by their

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