Day 021 - 29 Jul 94 - Page 40
1 supply for food for patients there, so they obviously have
to produce a balanced set of meals throughout the week; at
2 the other end you have an ice cream parlour which sells
nothing but ice cream to whoever chooses to walk through
3 the door.
4 MR. MORRIS: But ice cream parlours do not clothe themselves
with nutritional consultancy.
5
MR. JUSTICE BELL: May be then you can argue about it, you see?
6 But we are going to go down into arguments about what
McDonald's are about and everything else. Again, I do not
7 think that is for this witness.
8 MR. MORRIS: In your experience, McDonald's have never
considered, for example, that option?
9 A. I am not aware that they have, they may very well have
done at some point when I have not been there. But I
10 think what I can tell you -- you need to ask somebody else
to give you much more details -- quite frankly, if there
11 is a demand for a particular product, then McDonald's will
provide it. What I can tell you is that McDonald's are
12 always putting on "specials" and if those specials are
successful, then they could well find their way on to the
13 main menu. But, at the end of the day, if people do not
buy them in McDonald's, then they are not going to be put
14 on.
15 Q. Just one final question from me on the question of
demand: Advertising plays a part in what people seek at
16 McDonald's; is that correct?
A. Yes, I am sure it does.
17
Q. They have a large advertising budget?
18 A. Yes, but again it is not something I am involved in.
19 Q. No. I think the figure of one billion dollars a year has
been put forward.
20 A. Again I am not privy to that.
21 Q. When they do an advertising campaign for a meal at
McDonald's, a recent one -- I do not know if you can take
22 my word for it or not -- but it is basically a Big Mac,
fries and I think it is coke, the latest advertisement, so
23 they are generating a demand, are they not, for a
particular type of meal; is that correct?
24 A. Well, I think we get into a very long argument about
the precise role of advertising.
25
MR. RAMPTON: I really do not think Professor Wheelock can make
26 any useful comments -----
27 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I think we are getting into the area of
argument really as to what McDonald's purpose is and
28 whether it is the right one or not, which really I do not
think is Professor Wheelock. If you care to canvas this,
29 if when Mr. Preston came back you cared to say to him:
"Why don't you sell fruit? Why don't you have it on your
30 menu?" I am not suggesting you ask him many questions,
but see what the answer to it is; whether it is because
