Day 299 - 13 Nov 96 - Page 35


     
     1        all say that they only get about halfway through the food
     2        before getting bored with it and they are more interested
     3        in the toys.  But, I mean, the point is not what -- they
     4        might, you know, yes, they might want to eat the food when
     5        they get there, but the point is that the advertising is
     6        deceptive, because the real purpose of the advertising is
     7        to get them or their parents to buy the food, but that is
     8        not what is being portrayed in the advertisements.  What is
     9        being portrayed in the advertisements is having, you know,
    10        a great fun time with all these cartoon food characters.
    11
    12   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   I understand that, but whether it is
    13        realistic to say once they have been the first time that
    14        they do not have the taste of food in mind is -----
    15
    16   MS. STEEL:   I think if that was true, then McDonald's would not
    17        need to advertise to children, because once they had been
    18        once, the children would just keep saying they wanted to go
    19        there.  The reality is that McDonald's continually
    20        advertises, it advertises more than three-quarters of the
    21        weeks in the year, and it is clear that the food is not
    22        that great, because otherwise, you know, that level of
    23        advertising would not be necessary, they would just come
    24        back of their own accord.
    25
    26   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   Your point about the advertising may well be
    27        right, but what you have just said may be a bridge too far
    28        for me.  One knows that children's memories are extremely
    29        short, but when they are prompted, they are extremely
    30        good.  And what it seems to me is, although you may not
    31        like the idea, they do actually like this fatty, salty,
    32        sugary, very palatable food.  They forget about it unless
    33        they see it on an ad, and when they see it on the ad, the
    34        taste all just comes rushing back.  And, for better or
    35        worse, what comes rushing back is the pleasant memory of
    36        how it tasted and how much better it would be than the
    37        sprouts their mother would give them.
    38
    39   MS. STEEL:   I am not saying that they dislike the food.
    40        However, I do think it is the case that they would not be
    41        so keen on eating it so frequently if McDonald's were not
    42        continually bombarding them with advertising and dressing
    43        the food up as being, you know, come to McDonald's for a
    44        fun experience.
    45
    46   MR. MORRIS:   I think we have to see it as a kind of package.
    47        On the one hand you have the advertising, in the store you
    48        have the gimmickry.  The advertising has messages about the
    49        food but not actually telling you about the food, but the
    50        characters.  So kids associate eating the food as a fun
    51        event because they are thinking of the characters.  They
    52        like, as you say, the fat, salt and sugar content.  So the
    53        whole thing is like a package.  You cannot say it is just
    54        the advertising, it is not just the addition of the
    55        ingredients -----
    56
    57   MR. JUSTICE BELL:   I do not draw any exception with this.  It
    58        is just the suggestion that in the mind of the child the
    59        object of going to McDonald's is to play with these little
    60        food characters.  I was checking whether Ms. Steel was

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