Day 041 - 28 Oct 94 - Page 08

     
     1        to advertising.
     2
     3   Q.   In your view, are those controls -- I had better ask
     4        another question first:  By whom, if anybody, is television
     5        and radio advertising regulated in this country?
     6        A.  That is the ITC, and they have a body called BACC,
     7        which clears all copy for TV and radio commercials.
     8
     9   Q.   Is that prebroadcast vetted?
    10        A.  It is prebroadcast vetted, yes.  They also see the
    11        finished commercial as well before it goes out.
    12
    13   Q.   So far as advertising to children is concerned, does
    14        McDonald's have any additional controls or regulations of
    15        its own or standards?
    16        A.  Yes, we do.  We have guidelines called the Golden
    17        Arches Code which ensures that McDonald's around the world
    18        is obliged to not only comply with the local laws and
    19        conventions of the advertising in that country, but also
    20        above that certain of our own self-imposed disciplines on
         the way we go about advertising to children.
    22
    23   Q.   My Lord, for the present it is sufficient that I remind
    24        your Lordship that the Golden Arches Codes, and there are
    25        several of them for this country, are to be found in pink
    26        volume VII, I think tab 9 onwards, from 6 to 11.  Those are
    27        the European ones, my Lord.  The television guidelines
    28        which Mr. Hawkes has mentioned are at tab 1 of that
    29        volume.  Mr. Hawkes -----
    30
    31   MR. MORRIS:  Can we have a minute to have a chat with -----
    32
    33   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Yes.
    34
    35   MR. RAMPTON:  Mr. Hawkes, I promised I would come back to it.
    36        You mentioned, I think, this sort of proposition in
    37        relation to advertising.  Advertising is all very well, but
    38        if the product is no good it may turn out to be a waste of
    39        money.  I am paraphrasing but is that, roughly speaking,
    40        what you told us?
         A.  Yes.
    42
    43   Q.   In relation to McDonald's, how do you perceive what I call
    44        the "equation" -- "relationship" would be a better word --
    45        the relationship between advertising and what I may call
    46        in-store experience, so far as sales are concerned?
    47        A.  Well, the average consumer -- I cannot put numbers on
    48        it -- but the average consumer that comes to McDonald's in
    49        the UK spends more time in the restaurant than they do
    50        actually watching commercials.  The McDonald's experience 
    51        is something much more than just -- in fact, any restaurant 
    52        experience is something much more than just the food 
    53        itself.  It is the ambience of the restaurant and the
    54        interaction between our staff and the customers as they
    55        come in; it is to do with value for money they receive.
    56        So, there is a whole experience of totality that the
    57        consumer receives within the restaurant.
    58
    59        That is where any promise in the advertising is paid off.
    60        We either succeed or fail at that point.  It is that