Day 047 - 07 Nov 94 - Page 23
1 policy are concerned with coronary heart disease in both
2 the under 65s and the over 65s, HIV and Aids, accidents in
3 the home, and various other things.
4
5 Advertising has very little, a very small part to play in
6 helping towards those. It would be quite wrong, I think,
7 to suggest that advertising is a major factor in any of
8 that. Indeed, we have discussed with the government
9 whether they ought to use advertising to get across some of
10 their messages and, in brief, the answer we have been given
11 is "no".
12
13 So I do not think that advertising has anything more than a
14 small part to play in this whole process.
15
16 Q. Would you say that it is fair to say advertising is an
17 important influence on the food choices that people make?
18 A. It is an influence. It is a relatively small one, but
19 it certainly is an influence.
20
21 Q. Obviously, companies believe it is an important influence
22 on food choices, because they spend an enormous amount of
23 money on advertising?
24 A. They spend money -- if I may respond to your question
25 -- they spend money to persuade consumers to choose their
26 brand, as opposed to someone else's brand. It is a very
27 important part of that process. It is not a significant
28 part of the process of changing consumer habits.
29
30 If I wished to change consumer habits concerning the way
31 people drive, advertising has a very small part to play in
32 that process. It has a very large part to play in the
33 process of persuading someone to buy a Ford against a
34 Vauxhall, but not in terms of changing your social habits.
35
36 Q. If it was found that food habits had changed greatly over
37 the last 40 years -- obviously, you are not a
38 nutritionist -- are you aware that that is the case?
39 A. That food habits are changing? I think we are all
40 aware that they change.
41
42 Q. Would it be fair to say that while individual companies may
43 advertise a particular product, the collective effect of
44 advertising as a whole is to have an influence on food
45 choices; for example, let us say fast food, which is a
46 growing part of the eating out market, for example,
47 collectively, those advertisers in that industry are a very
48 substantial portion of the food advertising; is that
49 correct?
50 A. Yes.
51
52 Q. On television. So that they would, collectively, have a
53 response, an influence beyond any particular individual
54 company; would you say that was all fair comment?
55 A. Yes, although I think it is possible to exaggerate
56 that. What tends to happen is that consumer habits change
57 for a whole variety of reasons, and advertising will often
58 reinforce that change; and if you have three or four
59 different brands competing in the fast food market, the
60 fact that they are all offering the particular virtues of
