Day 296 - 07 Nov 96 - Page 45
1 crop up later with the reference -- obviously,
2 Mr. Fairgrieve referred to a survey where one of the
3 positives that McDonald's had found in their customers was
4 that they had -- his words, in the survey -- a craving for
5 the food. So, McDonald's were quite aware of the value of
6 putting fat, salt and sugar in their foods to encourage
7 people to come back and eat more of it. They are not only
8 aware of it, but they positively have a policy of
9 encouraging it.
10
11 The last part I think I wanted to say about today's
12 submissions was about: what do McDonald's mean by
13 nutritious? As we have heard, they say: "Every time you
14 eat a McDonald's, you will be eating good, nutritious
15 food." That is in their pamphlet "Nutrition: A question
16 of balance". Their advertising portrays the food as
17 nutritious, according to their Head of Advertising,
18 David Green, according to Robert Beavers; and that when it
19 comes down to it, the only definition they can give of
20 "nutritious" is "contains nutrients", which is a
21 completely meaningless definition.
22
23 I don't think this has been emphasised enough. This is a
24 complete colossal deception which the organisation in this
25 world with the highest advertising budget of $1.8 billion a
26 year can be maintaining -- not maintaining, but promoting
27 -- this colossal deception to the public, worthy of
28 Goebels -----
29
30 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Well, just hold back.
31
32 MR. MORRIS: I think it is a very important part.
33
34 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You are not going to impress me with things
35 like that. You have put the argument, actually, or
36 Ms. Steel did, quite well this morning. I am not going to
37 stop you having a go at it yourself.
38
39 MR. MORRIS: I don't think it has been emphasised enough
40 what -----
41
42 MR JUSTICE BELL: I do not think Goebels helps very much.
43
44 MR. MORRIS: OK. But I don't think it has been emphasised
45 enough what a colossal deception it is, because it strikes
46 at something so fundamental, which is that the food that
47 people are eating and the food that is being promoted to
48 them, and considering the alarming degeneration of health
49 in countries where processed food and fast food is on the
50 rise, that, in terms of any deceptive allegation in the
51 fact sheet, in particular about the food -- in the whole
52 fact sheet -- that this must be one of the most -- this
53 must be enough to prove the deceptive nature of McDonald's
54 Corporation in itself. I just feel that this is, in some
55 ways, the most colossal deception in the case.
56
57 MR. JUSTICE BELL: What I suggest you might do, when you come to
58 the end of your submissions -- I remember the comment A
59 which you have in tab 8 of the abstract; it is not quite in
60 the words I recall: "The more one finds out about the First
