Day 025 - 16 Sep 94 - Page 31


     
     1        speculate as to what McDonald's goals were in that effort.
     2
     3   Q.   Let me read on a bit:  "... promote its food as nutritious
     4        is a giant step backward from the gains made last summer
     5        when McDonald's, at the insistence of our three states and
     6        together with the other major fast food restaurants,
     7        agreed to provide booklets to its customers giving the
     8        nutrition facts on its food.
     9
    10        With these booklets, consumers can make their own
    11        decisions whether or not to eat at McDonald's -- and what
    12        to eat when they get there.
    13
    14        The new campaign appears intended to pull the wool over
    15        the public's eyes.  Let's consider a few of the specific
    16        claims made in your ads."
    17
    18        The words "the new campaign appears intended to pull the
    19        wool over the public's eyes", is that meant to be a
    20        suggestion of a deliberate attempt knowingly to deceive
    21        the public?
    22        A.  Yes.
    23
    24   Q.   It is?
    25        A.  Yes.
    26
    27   Q.   Then we go on to see what are the examples that you give
    28        of that attempt; is that right?
    29        A.  No.
    30
    31   Q.   Over the page?
    32        A.  The examples are, may be probative, inferentially
    33        probative of the intent, but all they are represented in
    34        this letter as being are the specific claims made in the
    35        ads and, further, why they are deceptive.  It is
    36        impossible, when reading an advertisement and giving
    37        specifics in the general case, to say whether the
    38        advertisement, that particular claim, was part of a
    39        campaign or a calculated effort to do something.
    40
    41        It is possible to say whether a particular statement was
    42        intentionally made.  In an advertisement virtually every
    43        statement perforce is intentionally made because it goes
    44        through a significant level of review, perhaps including
    45        the in-house and, perhaps, outside lawyers who examine the
    46        advertisement to see how close it comes to violating the
    47        law without going over that line.  But these were merely
    48        set forth as examples of specific deceptions in the
    49        advertisement.  As I said -----
    50 
    51   Q.   Deceptions? 
    52        A.  Deceptions, yes, sir.  False, misleading or deceptive 
    53        acts.
    54
    55   Q.   They are not necessarily the same, are they?  Can we just
    56        use "false" or "misleading" for this purpose?
    57        A.  For what purpose?
    58
    59   Q.   If we use the word "deceptive" we may get into trouble in
    60        trying to understand each other because "deceptive", like

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