Day 042 - 31 Oct 94 - Page 27


     
     1
     2   MR. RAMPTON:  My Lord, this is a complete waste of time.  In
     3        evidence-in-chief, Mr. Hawkes said that ronald mcdonald was
     4        a useful marketing tool, or a valuable marketing tool.  It
     5        is a complete nonsense, with the greatest possible respect.
     6
     7   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  You also gave an answer to me on Friday
     8        afternoon, which is the one I referred to before.  I did
     9        not make a full note of it, but the effect of it was that
    10        the advertising to children was to get young children who
    11        do not come in on their own to persuade their parents to
    12        take them in, thereby-----
    13
    14   MS. STEEL:  But there still seems to be -- they are saying-----
    15
    16   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I do not know what Mr. Green will say when he
    17        gives evidence, but I am quite clear that that is what
    18        Mr. Hawkes is saying.
    19
    20   MS. STEEL:  It is just that they keep saying about going in for
    21        the experience.
    22
    23   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.  Well, the experience is all part of
    24        the -- let me just say the way I understand it.  The
    25        McDonald's experience is attractive, not just the food, but
    26        the whole business of going to McDonald's is a treat and
    27        fun; that makes children want to go to McDonald's, and that
    28        leads to them attempting to persuade their parents to take
    29        them to McDonald's; that means, when they go there,
    30        McDonald's sell food; that means that McDonald's and their
    31        franchisees and managers increase their turnover and
    32        increase their profits.  Is there any issue about that in
    33        your mind at all?
    34
    35   THE WITNESS:  No, there is not.
    36
    37   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  I think you achieved that with that question
    38        and answer on Friday afternoon.  I did think, reading the
    39        statements, there might be some kind of issue about it, but
    40        when I heard Mr. Hawkes's answer, clearly, as far as he is
    41        concerned, there was not.
    42
    43   MS. STEEL:  Okay.  Carry on.
    44
    45   MR. MORRIS:  Just one point I was going to ask about that last
    46        ad was, the child keeps the fact of ronald mcdonald being
    47        there as a secret from his parents.  As a parent, they
    48        might find that quite disturbing.  What do you think about
    49        that?
    50        A.  I do not agree, really.  The relationship in that 
    51        particular commercial is pure fun and fantasy, and it is 
    52        between the child and Ronald; that is all. 
    53
    54   MS. STEEL:  Is Ronald just a fantasy?
    55        A.  On that level, yes, he is, because he does magical
    56        things, and he disappears and everything else, but he is
    57        obviously real in the restaurant.
    58
    59   Q.   So you are confusing a child's fantasy world with reality?
    60        A.  No, I am not.  I think we have to -- we perhaps have

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