Day 299 - 13 Nov 96 - Page 15


     
     1
     2        The company's operation manual is obviously not available
     3        to the public.  It is kept in a safe.  There is one for
     4        each store, it is my understanding.  His view was that
     5        children were virgin ground so far as marketing was
     6        concerned and that McDonald's could change people's eating
     7        habits.  Obviously, that would include children who are
     8        going to be very susceptible to influence from advertising
     9        messages and from messages coming from a clown who was
    10        designed to appeal to them and tell them how much he loved
    11        McDonald's food.
    12
    13        Mr. Robert Beavers, the senior vice president and member of
    14        the board of directors of the McDonald's Corporation,
    15        stated that back in the 1960s McDonald's were "the
    16        trend-setters in the food industry, in particular the fast
    17        food service industry in utilising national television".
    18        And he said that it was at that time that the Ronald
    19        McDonald character was introduced.
    20
    21        With reference to the ronald mcdonald character, he agreed
    22        that "no other marketing factor has been more important in
    23        distinguishing McDonald's as a leader in fast food than its
    24        early decision to appeal to children through advertising".
    25        And I think that quote was actually taken from the John
    26        Love book, which was authorised by McDonald's and written
    27        with their cooperation.
    28
    29        Mr. Beavers also said that in the early days the company
    30        probably did spend more of its advertising budget on
    31        children's advertisements and he stated that within a short
    32        period of time ronald mcdonald was one of the most
    33        well-known popular characters in America.
    34
    35        Mr. Fairgrieve, you remember the report I was referring to
    36        last week, actually I can't remember which tab it was in
    37        and I have not got it with me this week, and this was a
    38        quote from the survey.  It said McDonald's is more likely
    39        to be chosen than its competitors in response to kids'
    40        pestering.  Mr. Fairgrieve said that the company had known
    41        that for several years and that it was broadly a positive
    42        from their perspective.  He said it is the kind of thing
    43        you just tick off as you go through, it is like "well, that
    44        is okay".
    45
    46        So it is clear there that Mr. Fairgrieve is saying that
    47        pester power or that the children pestering their parents
    48        to take them to McDonald's was fine as far as the company
    49        was concerned, they were quite happy about that.  Bearing
    50        in mind that they are quite happy about it, and they have
    51        been aware that it goes on for years, you might wonder why
    52        it was they decided to sue us over that and allege that it
    53        was defamatory and libelous.
    54
    55        This is really on the point about the section of the
    56        leaflet that talks about children living out the advert,
    57        where Mr. Fairgrieve said that quite simply the idea of
    58        having a personal appearance programme for ronald mcdonald
    59        is to bring the McDonald's experience as seen in the
    60        advertising fully alive in the restaurant with a physical

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