Day 300 - 14 Nov 96 - Page 07


     
     1        That was an advertising industry magazine.  That was
     2        page 36 of day 54.
     3
     4        She referred to a study conducted by Millward Brown, which
     5        found that children were three times as likely as adults to
     6        recall advertisements.  In the longer term, their residual
     7        recall level was also over twice as high as adults.  That
     8        was on day 54, page 44, line 43.
     9
    10        That study found that a single exposure may have a natural
    11        lifespan of two weeks before it was lost from memory.  So
    12        if McDonald's was advertising 40 weeks in a year, they
    13        would certainly ensure that the company was not going to be
    14        lost from memory.  That was her comment at the end of it.
    15        That was day 54, page 45, line 14.
    16
    17        She actually referred to a further part of the study which
    18        said that:  However, if the advertisement was reinforced by
    19        a second advertisement, the child may still have an
    20        effective recall after four weeks.  That was day 54,
    21        page 45, line 23.
    22
    23        So the more often advertisements were seen, the more likely
    24        they were to be remembered.  So effectively, if McDonald's
    25        are advertising about 40 out of every 52 weeks in a year,
    26        basically, bearing in mind that the 12 or so weeks of no
    27        advertisements do not all come together, effectively
    28        children are going to be continuously reminded of
    29        McDonald's through advertising, which obviously is what the
    30        company has set out to do.  It wants to make sure it stays
    31        permanently in the minds of children.
    32
    33        We would say that that is something which is pretty
    34        sinister, really.  It is manipulating their minds to be
    35        constantly thinking of the company which basically does not
    36        have any concern for them, it is just interested in making
    37        profits out of them.
    38
    39        Even if that is not....  Well, it appears to be unusual in
    40        terms of fast food outlets, other fast food chains, but
    41        even if it was not unusual in terms of, you know, there may
    42        be other big companies who are advertising to that extent,
    43        that does not mean to say that we should not have the right
    44        to criticise them.  Miss Dibb said that advertising does
    45        influence children's perceptions of food and their
    46        preferences and choices.  She said that was hardly
    47        surprising since that was the intended objective of
    48        advertisements.  That was day 54, page 40, line 11.
    49
    50        She also said that familiarity with food is a factor in
    51        children's food choices.  Advertising makes the foods
    52        familiar and studies have shown that children are more
    53        likely to choose an advertised product over a
    54        non-advertised product.  That was on day 54, page 40.
    55
    56        In actual fact, I mean, I think the point about familiarity
    57        being a factor in food choices applies to adults as well,
    58        and I think that is probably -----
    59
    60   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Well, a lot of this may apply just as well

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