Day 041 - 28 Oct 94 - Page 33
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2 Q. Do you have any disquiet about the use of Ronald -- and he
3 has some mates, does he not, hamburger, and other people?
4 A. Yes.
5
6 Q. The use of such characters to enhance your sales through
7 the effect of those characters on children?
8 A. No, none at all.
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10 Q. Would you like to expand on that?
11 A. Yes, I can. Two main reasons: (1) that he is a
12 character, as with the other characters, indeed themselves,
13 are extremely responsible in the way they are portrayed.
14 We do nothing and have no personality traits within those
15 characters that could pose a problem to the growing up of
16 children. So, there is no ethical problem so far as that
17 is concerned.
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19 Secondly, as we have established, the child does not make
20 the overriding decision to visit the restaurant, to go out
21 to eat in the QSR sector. It is the parent that does
22 that. The parent always reserves the right to say "no" to
23 the child.
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25 I guess I said two things -- I will add a third. Even if
26 none of that was true, if they came to McDonald's and the
27 experience was not what the child or the parent wanted,
28 then that would still be ineffectual as advertising, so
29 I have no problem with any of it.
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31 Q. There is a fourth possibility, Mr. Hawkes, one that is,
32 what shall I say, suggested by the Defendants in this case
33 and that is this: A very good reason for keeping children
34 out of your restaurants and for not advertising directly or
35 indirectly in any way to children or their parents so as to
36 get them into the restaurants is that when they get there
37 what they are getting to eat is bad for them and may even
38 be poisonous. What reaction do you have to that
39 suggestion?
40 A. It is simply untrue.
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42 Q. So far as it is supposed -- I use the word "supposed" --
43 healthiness is concerned, do you know of anything to
44 distinguish McDonald's food from the food sold by Burger
45 King or at a fish and chip shop or in the Pizza House, so
46 far as general nutritional quality is concerned?
47 A. Not that I am aware of, no.
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49 Q. McDonald's, Mr. Hawkes, do from time to time -- in fact,
50 continuously since a long way back -- produce nutritional
51 leaflets of one kind or another which are available by one
52 route or another to their customers; are you aware of that?
53 A. Yes, I am.
54
55 Q. Have you yourself had any responsibility for the
56 composition, production and content of any of those
57 leaflets?
58 A. No, I have not. They are produced by a different
59 department.
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