Day 298 - 11 Nov 96 - Page 23
1 healthy food, which was that it should be low in fat,
2 cholesterol and sodium and a good source of one or more of
3 six important nutrients, and their view was that that
4 should apply to advertising as well as labelling. Day 46,
5 page 46, line 51. Obviously, we would be in agreement that
6 along with the other definition of... Well, we would be in
7 agreement with that, along with the other definition that
8 we gave of what the view of a healthy or nutritious food
9 was, when we gave it the other day.
10
11 Just moving on to some of Mr. Fairgrieve's evidence, this
12 was the first occasion when he gave evidence. On day 28 of
13 the trial, he said on page 8, line 59 that McDonald's
14 accounts for a third of eating out behaviour. He said on
15 page 17, line 16, that it was virtually impossible to find
16 people who said that they used McDonald's but did not use
17 Burger King. So obviously, that relates to the point about
18 people's diets overall and the reality of the situation
19 being that they do not eat the odd McDonald's meal, or eat
20 a McDonald's meal and then eat healthily for the rest of
21 the week. Or even the rest of the day, for that matter.
22
23 He said on page 24, line 47 that between 1988 and 1994
24 there has been a steady increase in McDonald's market share
25 from 65 to 71 or 72 percent.
26
27 MR. JUSTICE BELL: That was of the burger market, was it, of the
28 fast food burger sector, burger house sector?
29
30 MS. STEEL: Yes, I think it was, yes. I just wanted to refer
31 to some of the evidence that came in with Mr. Fairgrieve,
32 the McDonald's brand audit research, a report dated 29th
33 April 1992. This is with reference to McDonald's, people's
34 motivation for using McDonald's, and their view about the
35 company and the nature of the food that is served there.
36 This was on page 3 of that report. People being surveyed
37 described McDonald's as impersonal and rushed. That heavy
38 users of McDonald's were more likely C1 or C2 males, under
39 25 and without children or with older children. That
40 McDonald's was more likely to be chosen than its
41 competitors in response to kids pestering. That heavy
42 users were more likely to choose McDonald's on occasions
43 when they were especially hungry, and the relevance of that
44 is that there have been, or there has been, a suggestion,
45 from time to time, that how do we know that these heavy
46 users are not all just going in every day for a cup of
47 coffee, and clearly if they are going in because they are
48 especially hungry, they are going to be eating lots of
49 burgers and fries and get a substantial fat and saturated
50 fat load.
51
52 On page 6 of that document there is a section, 'product
53 imagery', and it says that people thought that McDonald's
54 food was high in calories and that it was not rated as well
55 as being healthy or made with natural ingredients. You may
56 remember that Mr. Fairgrieve did say that this would have
57 applied going back several years, so obviously, despite
58 McDonald's best intentions, a lot of people are not being
59 duped into believing that the food is healthy, though
60 obviously some still are.
