Day 025 - 16 Sep 94 - Page 70


     
     1
     2   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  What occurs to me, Mr. Rampton, is that
     3        knowing how the world works it might not embarrass this
     4        witness because it is just what happens.
     5
     6   MR. RAMPTON:  Of course, I accept that.
     7
     8   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It might be a question of whether it would
     9        embarrass you if you personally had been totally
    10        responsible for both its drafting and its going out.
    11
    12   MR. RAMPTON:  The references to the children in this press
    13        release are there solely, are they not, to excite public
    14        feeling against McDonald's?  That is what they are for,
    15        are they not?
    16        A.  No, I would say they were there to provide colour,
    17        depth to the story to illustrate the point and to let the
    18        public see that, in fact, it is not just the Attorney
    19        General picking on McDonald's; in fact, there are other
    20        citizens of the state that also feel McDonald's has done
    21        wrong.
    22
    23   Q.   Particularly the innocent youngsters who risk being
    24        victims of being poisoned at McDonald's restaurants?
    25        A.  Reporters often ask me, and I presume they ask the
    26        press office: "Can you give me examples?  Can you tell me
    27        people who have been harmed" by whatever practice they are
    28        asking me about.  I understand that from their standpoint
    29        that also, just as it would if I were to bring the case to
    30        court, I would want something more than the cold hard law
    31        to deal with.  It brings the case to light for the reading
    32        public and, therefore, they want it and I would presume
    33        that is why the office provided it.  As I said, I do not
    34        know why.
    35
    36   Q.   It does not strike you as in any sense unfair; it is just
    37        all part of the publicity game: Get your publicity in
    38        first and use whatever colour or depth comes to hand to
    39        make your point.  That is all it is about, is it not?  "Do
    40        not wait for McDonald's response; put this out on the
    41        public wire so that everybody should know about children
    42        in Texas"?
    43        A.  Not using whatever comes to hand, but using whatever
    44        is truthful and honest that illustrates the point.  On the
    45        question of not waiting for McDonald's, I can tell you
    46        that it is quite frequent when enforcement action, whether
    47        it is a letter, a cease and desist letter of this nature
    48        or a law suit being filed, that the practice is relatively
    49        rare to tell the other side what you are fixing to do, so
    50        that they can marshal their forces against it, any more 
    51        than McDonald's advised us they were putting out a press 
    52        release. 
    53
    54   Q.   Exactly.  I was just going to draw your attention to
    55        that.  It is on page 124.  I think actually that is a
    56        misprint.   No, it is not.  "McDonald's and several other
    57        fast food chains reached agreements with Texas, California
    58        and New York last summer to give customers nutritional
    59        information on their food.  McDonald's calculated move to
    60        promote its food as nutritious is a giant step backwards

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