Day 300 - 14 Nov 96 - Page 30


     
     1        surprised about the Mori polls, that only 39 percent of
     2        parents agreed that they often buy products that their
     3        children ask them to.  That was advertised food products.
     4        He said:  "I would have guessed that a higher proportion
     5        did".  So he clearly thinks that pester power is something
     6        that is quite effective, if he thinks that over 39 percent
     7        of people would agree that they often buy products their
     8        children have asked them to after seeing the products being
     9        advertised.  He agreed -----
    10
    11   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Does it have to be pester power?   I mean,
    12        you keep using pester power, but is it pester power if a
    13        child, while pouring one kind of cereal into its bowl at
    14        breakfast, says, "Mum, the next time you go to Waitrose,
    15        Tesco's, Sainsbury's, whatever, can you buy such and such
    16        instead".  Is that pester power?
    17
    18   MS. STEEL:   It would depend on whether...  I mean, I don't
    19        know, I think the Plaintiffs are only worried about the
    20        term "pester power" because they are ashamed of what they
    21        are doing.  But, yes, it does matter if, for example, the
    22        mother is trying to feed her child a healthy product and
    23        she is getting pestered to go and buy some other.
    24
    25   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   It is the pestering.  I see the point
    26        entirely about asking mother or father to go and get a food
    27        which is not good for the child.  That I have no trouble
    28        with, whether you call it pestering or just polite
    29        once-only request.  But are you saying every request is
    30        pester or that it is trying to get them to go further, to
    31        nag on and on and on?
    32
    33   MS. STEEL:   The point is, you know, McDonald's are trying to
    34        portray this picture about it is all between one brand and
    35        another.  The reality is that it is not.  It is about
    36        children demanding to be taken to McDonald's when the
    37        parents are not even remotely considering going out.  You
    38        see it in the street all the time.
    39
    40   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   I am sorry, you are not answering my point.
    41        I said I understand that, the undesirability of even a
    42        single polite request to be taken to McDonald's rather than
    43        having what you would say is a much healthier food
    44        elsewhere.  I have no trouble with that and I see the point
    45        of criticism there, which I will consider.
    46
    47        It is when pester power is used as if it is suggesting that
    48        the result of the advertisement will not be one or two
    49        polite requests but a nagging on and on until the parent
    50        does it.  That is what I am trying to get.  Are you
    51        suggesting that is the consequence of the advertising?   I
    52        understand the first criticism.
    53
    54   MS. STEEL:   I think the reality is that it is more often than
    55        not children do not just ask once and that they do pester
    56        their parents.  There may be some occasions when they only
    57        ask once, and it may be that, you know, the parents do not
    58        get particularly bothered by that.  But the reality is that
    59        they are, in the main, being subjected to frequent
    60        advertisements about all manner of different things.

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