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
