Day 299 - 13 Nov 96 - Page 08


     
     1        It is clear from the McDonald's admission that they do
     2        design the food down to the last detail to look and feel
     3        and taste exactly the same in every outlet in the world,
     4        and that it is fair enough to call that artificial
     5        conformity as a result of that.  And then they have
     6        admitted that they use a number of additives for that
     7        purpose.
     8
     9        On meaning 'J', effectively the meaning of this section of
    10        the leaflet, the section headed "How do McDonald's
    11        deliberately exploit children" -- actually it covers 'K' as
    12        well -- is that McDonald's uses a huge amount of
    13        advertising targeted at children whose purpose is to
    14        encourage children to think that McDonald's is a part of
    15        everyday life and hence that they are not normal if they do
    16        not go there.
    17
    18        I think you should note that the 'normal' is in inverted
    19        commas in the leaflet and it is clearly talking about
    20        normal in the sense of fitting into sort of -- well, it is
    21        talking about fitting in with your peers and being accepted
    22        by your peers.
    23
    24   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Being the odd one out if you do not.
    25
    26   MS. STEEL:   Yes.  And that further, the meaning is that the use
    27        of such advertising and gimmickry is done with the
    28        knowledge that it will result in children pressurising
    29        their parents into taking them to McDonald's.
    30
    31        Then, on top of that again, that McDonald's promote the
    32        consumption of their meals as a fun event, which I think
    33        has been accepted by just about every witness for
    34        McDonald's.  They have talked about the fun experience, how
    35        the experience is all part of coming to eat at McDonald's.
    36
    37        Then the leaflet talks about this reducing the food itself
    38        to the status of a prop in the minds of children.  It is
    39        the fun experience they are going for, the food is just by
    40        the by, really.
    41
    42        Then about the "not a lot of children are interested in
    43        nutrition and even if they were all the gimmicks and
    44        routines with paper hats and straws and balloons hide the
    45        fact that the food they are seduced into eating is at best
    46        mediocre and at worst poisonous", and the parents know it
    47        is not even cheap.  Effectively, this is about McDonald's
    48        promoting the consumption of their meals as a fun event to
    49        cover up for the inadequacy of their products which are at
    50        best mediocre, i.e., they are nothing special, they are
    51        pretty average, by way of sort of taste, whatever, that
    52        they are certainly not beneficial for your health and that
    53        in the worst case scenario they can have a detrimental
    54        effect on your health, either through the degenerative...
    55        Sorry, the long-term effects and their contribution to
    56        degenerative diseases which would be a slow poisoning.
    57        Obviously if you are going to get heart disease or cancer,
    58        and die of it, then if the food that you are eating is
    59        contributing to that then it could be termed as slow
    60        poison.  Or, alternatively, that you could risk food

Prev Next Index