Day 299 - 13 Nov 96 - Page 14


     
     1        it would be considered to be unacceptable that people would
     2        view it as unethical to use cartoon characters to sell junk
     3        food to children in order for the company to increase its
     4        profits.  I think both Mr. Preston and John Hawkes admitted
     5        that Ronald was a useful marketing tool.
     6
     7        And then we had the extracts from the confidential
     8        operations manual, which really gave quite a good insight
     9        into McDonald's strategy.  That stated that children are
    10        often the key decision-makers concerning where a family
    11        goes to eat and that offering toys was one of the best
    12        things to make children loyal supporters, that birthday
    13        parties were an important way to generate added on sales
    14        and profits.
    15
    16        And then there was the section about ronald mcdonald which
    17        gave the original quote that ronald mcdonald is a strong
    18        marketing tool, that Ronald loves McDonald's and McDonald's
    19        food and so do children because they love Ronald.
    20        Remember, children exert a phenomenal influence when it
    21        comes to restaurant selection; that means that you should
    22        do everything you can to appeal to children's love for
    23        Ronald and McDonald's.  And the phenomenal influence
    24        reference there is a clear reference to the use of pester
    25        power, children pestering their parents to take them to
    26        McDonald's.
    27
    28        We consider as well that the phrase "you should do
    29        everything you can to appeal to children's love for Ronald
    30        and McDonald's" is again manipulation of children's
    31        emotions, exploitation of children, that it is extremely
    32        sinister.
    33
    34        And further on that point, we think that the evidence from
    35        the Civil Evidence Act statement of Geoffrey Juliano, a
    36        former ronald mcdonald actor during the 1980s, is worth
    37        taking into consideration on this point.  This is a person
    38        who spent years promoting McDonald's food, persuading
    39        children to go to McDonald's, and when he quit he publicly
    40        apologised and stated:  I brainwashed youngsters into doing
    41        wrong.  I want to say sorry to children everywhere for
    42        selling out to concerns who make millions by murdering
    43        animals.
    44
    45        It is clear that his view is that the use of Ronald
    46        McDonald is effectively a brainwashing technique, the way
    47        ronald mcdonald is used.
    48
    49        Still on the same point, really, that the golden arches
    50        code, McDonald's internal code for their advertisements,
    51        does state that one of their aims was to make people feel a
    52        warm empathy towards the commercial and therefore feel an
    53        empathy towards the company.  Again, this is manipulation
    54        of people's emotions, although Mr. Green denied that,
    55        denied it was a manipulation of people's emotions.  Well,
    56        that is his opinion.  Because he also denied brainwashing
    57        children with ronald mcdonald or having a hidden agenda in
    58        the use of Ronald, and yet from the company's own
    59        operations manual we can see that the company does have a
    60        hidden agenda with their use of Ronald.

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