Day 299 - 13 Nov 96 - Page 32
1 that you have not lived if you have not been to
2 McDonald's. We asked Mr. Hawkes about this, and he
3 said: "I think it is common terminology that you have not
4 lived if you have not been somewhere. Children would say
5 that it is a fairly common phrase. I am sure that they
6 would use it about McDonald's. I mean, basically, that is
7 saying exactly what the leaflet says, that you would feel
8 you were not normal if you did not go to McDonald's as
9 well."
10
11 So here is a direct example of an advertisement and an
12 admission by Mr. Hawkes that that is the intention of it,
13 or the effect of it, and he went on to say, "In colloquial
14 terms it is something McDonald's would like people to
15 think." So there you are, that is a clear admission there
16 that they do want people to think that if you have not been
17 to McDonald's you have not lived, i.e., you are not normal,
18 effectively, or you are the odd one out, whatever.
19
20 Going on to pester power, there was a claim by the
21 Plaintiffs that since pester power was not... Well,
22 independent television, ITC, the Independent Television
23 Commission, Codes of Practice No 5 stated that
24 advertisements must not exhort children to purchase or ask
25 their parents or others to make inquiries or purchases,
26 that because the ITC said that -- and Mr. Hawkes claimed
27 that he did not recall any McDonald's advertisements being
28 rejected by the ITC on those grounds -- that therefore
29 there was not anything wrong with McDonald's
30 advertisements.
31
32 That is clearly ridiculous, because whilst there might not
33 be specific references in the advertisements to go and ask
34 your parents to buy such and such a product for you, that
35 has got to be the purpose of the advertisement. Certainly,
36 for the advertisements aimed at children between the ages
37 of two to eight, which Mr. Hawkes has said was where most
38 of the children's advertising was focused, there would be
39 absolutely no point in advertising if the children were not
40 going to ask their parents to make purchases on their
41 behalf for them.
42
43 We had a reference to a quote from Ray Crock, the founder
44 of McDonald's. Day 41, page 30, line 14. This is supposed
45 to be a quote from Ray Crock: "A child who loves our TV
46 commercials and brings their grandparents to McDonald's
47 brings us two more customers. This is a direct benefit
48 generated by advertising dollars."
49
50 Mr. Hawkes agreed with that, and that is a clear indication
51 that the company is targeting children with their TV
52 commercials to get them to get either their parents or
53 grandparents, or somebody else, to take them to
54 McDonald's. Mr. Hawkes said that the purpose of Ronald
55 McDonald was the personification of McDonald's to
56 children. He then went on to say: "What it is to do is to
57 get young children who do not come into McDonald's by
58 themselves to talk to their parents to encourage their
59 parents to bring them into McDonald's." And so that is
60 their own stated purpose of the use of ronald mcdonald, to
