Day 186 - 10 Nov 95 - Page 11


     
     1        the one of the Treasury butchers is much stronger.  There
     2        is obviously a starving child on the butcher's cutting
     3        block and John Major telling the butcher to "get
     4        chopping".  That has, obviously, in the literal sense, got
     5        to be chopping up the child, the starving child, but nobody
     6        is going to take that in its literal sense.
     7
     8        People are not going to take this as meaning that the
     9        Government is literally chopping up starving children to
    10        feed rich, overweight people that are hanging about on the
    11        right-hand side of the cartoon, despite the use of the word
    12        "chopping" by the character that is supposed to be John
    13        Major and despite the words of the butcher, "but there is
    14        hardly any meat on this".  The message is that John Major
    15        and his Government is responsible for taking from the poor
    16        to give to the rich.
    17
    18        It is the same with the burger, with the cow and the person
    19        in it.  If this was to be taken in its literal sense, for
    20        starters, dead cows and dead people do not talk.  Secondly,
    21        it would be suggesting that McDonald's put human remains
    22        into their burgers.  I do not think that even the
    23        Plaintiffs would suggest that that is the meaning.
    24        Additionally, obviously, it does not refer to McDonald's.
    25
    26        Basically, I would just say that the purpose of the cartoon
    27        is to depict the crushing of people and animals by the
    28        burger industry.  Obviously, the leaflet is about
    29        McDonald's, so McDonald's are a part of that.  That
    30        includes the crushing of workers, and not just customers.
    31
    32        I do not really know that I need to mention the other
    33        cartoons, but I just thought that it was worth looking at
    34        the fact that, basically, the second cartoon is showing
    35        people on welfare being put in a mincer and being minced up
    36        to make the dinner of a very large person who appears as if
    37        they do not really need any more to eat.  That is being
    38        done by Kenneth Clarke.  If people do not understand the
    39        meaning of the cartoon initially, they were going to look
    40        to the whole of the leaflet for an explanation; and it is
    41        clear that the whole leaflet is talking about the
    42        all-consuming nature of the burger industry taking over our
    43        high streets.
    44
    45        There is a section in the leaflet that refers to:
    46         "Everything must go".  "All junk-food chains hide their
    47        ruthless exploitation of resources, animals and people
    48        behind a facade of colourful gimmicks and 'family fun'."
    49        It goes on to say:  "This materialist mentality is
    50        affecting all areas of our lives, with giant conglomerates 
    51        dominating the marketplace, allowing little or no room for 
    52        people to create genuine choices." 
    53
    54        I think, really, the case is that the cartoon is something,
    55        basically, that is there to break up the text, to catch the
    56        eye in the same way as the headlines, to encourage the
    57        reader to read the text of the leaflet, and that it is
    58        basically a joke more than anything.  Really, I do not
    59        actually think, to be honest, that people looking at the
    60        cartoon are going to think very much about it.  I think

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