Day 044 - 02 Nov 94 - Page 22
1 health, that does not generally apply to the large
2 proportion of your advertising and marketing budget?
3 A. I do not get the connection.
4
5 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I do not think he does. I think, really,
6 this is a matter of comment for me in due course. You have
7 had some pretty candid answers from Mr. Green yesterday
8 about what the purpose of marketing is, so far as
9 increasing sales profits are concerned. No doubt you will
10 address me in due course as to whether marketing is a power
11 for the good or the ill, insofar as that is relevant to an
12 issue in the case.
13
14 That is not in any way limiting your ability to comment in
15 due course on that area of the case. It is just a question
16 of whether, having got the answers which you have got,
17 pursuing it any further with Mr. Green is productive.
18
19 (To the witness) Is the nutritional quality or
20 otherwise of McDonald's food your responsibility in any way
21 within the Corporation in the United States?
22 A. No, not at all.
23
24 MR. MORRIS: McDonald's international marketing strategy, as
25 developed through the meetings you participated in, that is
26 to promote, basically, the core menu that is roughly the
27 same, is it not, in every country?
28 A. Yes. I think that, certainly on an international
29 basis, advertising is to inform people what McDonald's is
30 all about, the experience at McDonald's, as well as the
31 food at McDonald's.
32
33 Q. In some countries -- let us take Japan, for example -- you
34 have mentioned that you know Mr. Fujita?
35 A. Yes.
36
37 Q. I think a quote was read out, which I will not repeat. But
38 a major problem in a country like Japan is, is it not, that
39 there is no traditional consumption of hamburgers, or beef
40 in fact. Is that a problem for the Corporation?
41 A. I think there is a considerable consumption of
42 hamburgers.
43
44 Q. Sorry. I mean when you started in the 1970s; beef
45 consumption was----
46 A. Actually, when we started out in the 1970s, I am not
47 expert as to what was available or what was not available
48 in Japan. I would just go on as a traveller, or reader of
49 travels, what they had available to them.
50
51 Q. If in a country where there was no tradition of beef
52 consumption, in your experience, through the international
53 marketing strategies of the core menu at McDonald's, what
54 role does television play in promoting McDonald's food?
55 A. Again-----
56
57 Q. Is it a very important role?
58 A. I cannot speculate about one country or another but,
59 certainly, if McDonald's goes into a country, the role of
60 advertising is to explain what is the menu of McDonald's
