Day 045 - 03 Nov 94 - Page 35
1 I have been associated with or my department has been
2 associated with, that I can think of, and nothing comes to
3 mind.
4
5 Q. If you were doing it from the heart, for reasons of the
6 heart, why have the name attached at all?
7 A. I do not think they are incongruous. I think, again,
8 as people, as human beings as well as part of the
9 community, whether it is a business community or whether it
10 is the community at large, people like to try to do the
11 right things. McDonald's, as a person, as a persona, likes
12 to do the right things as well. There is a considerable
13 amount of activity that we do; in fact, in my humble
14 opinion, a significant amount of activity that McDonald's
15 does that other people in a similar situation, whether in
16 business or not, do not do. The reason we do it is that
17 I think we honestly believe in it.
18
19 Q. You know that it gets you free publicity?
20 A. Certainly, there is publicity that is associated with
21 it, in many cases; in some cases not.
22
23 MR. MORRIS: When people, say, make a gift and get publicity,
24 does it come out of their advertising budget?
25 A. I am not sure I follow that.
26
27 MR. MORRIS: I will change the question. Say Mr. Golin-----
28
29 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Pause there. You could put it this way: if
30 hamburgers were provided to those in need, would that come
31 out -- that is the sort of thing you mean, is it -- would
32 that come out of the advertising or promotion budget? Is
33 that what you mean?
34
35 MR. MORRIS: Yes. That kind of thing.
36
37 THE WITNESS: No. That does not come out of the advertising
38 and promotion budget. That comes out of the bottom line or
39 the profits of that particular store, because that
40 particular operator wanted to do it.
41
42 MR. MORRIS: The public relations firm that may be dreaming up
43 various statistical or stunts, or whatever, are they paid
44 out of your department?
45 A. Yes. Well, actually, they used to be paid out of the
46 Marketing department, but they no longer are. They are
47 paid out of the Communications department. But their
48 overall fee is paid for either by the company or by a
49 co-operative of stores that band together.
50
51 Q. So they are areas of promotion which are not covered by
52 your specific department?
53 A. Public relations is not covered by my specific
54 department.
55
56 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Well, that has reminded me of a question
57 I wanted to ask: whether public relations came within the
58 five or six per cent?
59 A. Yes. On a local----
60
