Day 246 - 09 May 96 - Page 68
1 which brought their parents into our restaurants"?
2 A. I think kids do in most families; certainly, mine did
3 when they were of ronald mcdonald's age. They would say,
4 "Mum or Dad, I want to go to McDonald's". I have to say
5 I did not succumb all the time; sometimes I did. I think
6 most parents make the choice based on sensibility. They
7 have the ability to say "yes" or "no" as appropriate. But
8 I see on the High Street every day kids tugging on Mum's
9 coat, "I want to go here; I want to go there; I want to buy
10 this; I want to buy that". I do not find that particularly
11 unusual. But did I say in that, that sentence alone?
12 I probably said it, but I would have said other things with
13 it.
14
15 MS. STEEL: Right. So you do not think you have been misquoted
16 there? You think you probably said more to it?
17 A. I may very well have said that. I think there may have
18 been more around it. I do not remember this interview at
19 all.
20
21 Q. No. Well, that is probably not surprising, but in the
22 first couple of paragraphs -- sorry, actually the second
23 and third paragraphs -- it talks about Robert Ray saying,
24 "When the store first opened in 1974 the reaction was less
25 than ecstatic and there were times when we were sitting
26 there on our own for hours on end without a single
27 customer", and you talked about that when you gave your
28 evidence-in-chief; then the next paragraph talks about
29 being helped by a shrewd television advertising campaign,
30 "Britain nevertheless soon succumbed to the formula that
31 sells 140 hamburgers a second in 36 countries in five
32 continents". Obviously, that was 1985 when that was
33 written. But would you basically agree with what was
34 written there?
35 A. I do not know about the word "shrewd". I might
36 substitute "effective".
37
38 Q. OK, right.
39 A. But certainly advertising played a major part in
40 building McDonald's to its levels of success, telling
41 people what is there, allowing them to choose or not choose
42 to come. I would credit television with playing a large
43 part in it, yes.
44
45 Q. OK. Thank you. I do not know if that is an appropriate
46 time to stop.
47
48 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Yes.
49
50 MS. STEEL: Actually, this is not another question but I wanted
51 to know what the situation is with Dr. Arnott, because he
52 had not actually been confirmed and, obviously, if he is
53 coming, we need a statement and I wanted to know what the
54 situation was with that, really.
55
56 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Do you know the position yet, Mr. Rampton?
57
58 MR. RAMPTON: Yes, I know. I can give your Lordship an up to
59 date indication. He has been contacted. He is willing to
60 return to court. I will be corrected if I am wrong, but
