Day 041 - 28 Oct 94 - Page 29

     
     1        to seven.  Earlier on in our development here we would have
     2        been quite happy to see children of 12, 13 seeing Ronald
     3        McDonald advertising because it was new and educational.
     4
     5   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It may be of significance, Mr. Rampton,
     6        because in one sense "children" obviously to your clients
     7        means up to and including 15, witness the tabulations we
     8        have seen in some places.  It is rather dawning on me when
     9        it comes to advertising it may mean something entirely
    10        different.
    11
    12   MR. RAMPTON:  Yes.
    13
    14   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  In other words, the little ones who might be
    15        entertained or influenced by watching ronald mcdonald's
    16        activities.
    17
    18   MR. RAMPTON:  That sort of stuff we saw on the television, yes.
    19        I had not thought that a 13 or 14 year-old in this country
    20        nowadays would find much of that very enthralling -- I may
         be wrong.  (To the witness):  Mr. Hawkes, can I take what
    22        I might call the lower bracket, the lower group of age
    23        group of children?
    24        A.  Yes.
    25
    26   Q.   Let us assume, for the sake of argument, that at any rate a
    27        large part of this children's advertising budget is
    28        directed to people of eight down to three or two; is that a
    29        reasonable assumption to make?
    30        A.  As of now it is certainly reasonable, yes.
    31
    32   Q.   Can we say even in recent years?
    33        A.  Yes.
    34
    35   Q.   What I am wondering is, although it be only in the last
    36        three years (here charted) less than 15 per cent of the
    37        total advertising budget, what it is you are expecting to
    38        achieve with that age group by those sorts of
    39        advertisements?
    40        A.  We are trying to appeal to that age group that these
         characters and, therefore, by implication McDonald's is a
    42        fun place they would wish to visit.
    43
    44   Q.   Pause there.  Let us assume, also for the sake of argument
    45        and using our common sense, that the child, the particular
    46        child or children, if they have siblings, have parents
    47        sufficiently responsible not to allow them out on to the
    48        street on their own with money in their pocket to go and
    49        buy the product independently; we assume that for the
    50        moment.  Is that an assumption that you are making in 
    51        relation to that age group? 
    52        A.  It is an assumption.  Indeed, we serve very few, say, 
    53        six year-olds by themselves -- virtually none.
    54
    55   Q.   That being so, you having created, you hope, the image in
    56        the child's mind, a tender image, that McDonald's is a nice
    57        place to be, what do you expect or hope will happen next?
    58        A.  We would hope that when the family, the adult is eating
    59        out or intends to eat out, the child will ask them to go to
    60        McDonald's.  So when, as we mentioned earlier, the