Day 047 - 07 Nov 94 - Page 47

     
     1        particularly specialised area of communication for the
     2        following reasons -- .
     3
     4   MR. JUSTICE BELL: I do not think you need pick up that
     5        particularly. I do not really think it really goes to
     6        anything in any case and for myself, I see a difference
     7        between that which is done for commercial interests and
     8        that which is done just as an expression of opinion or of
     9        what someone would like to happen. No doubt that is part of
    10        the reason why there are regulations in relation to
    11        advertising, if not in relation to groups of people who
    12        hold a particular point of view which they would wish to
    13        prevail?
    14        A.  No doubt, My Lord.
    15
    16   MS. STEEL: Going on to question four "Food advertising
    17        encourages my children to spend their pocket money on foods
    18        I prefer them not to eat. 40 percent of parents overall
    19        agreed with this statement while 43 percent disagreed.
    20        Parents who have children under five are least likely to
         agree --  20 percent, reflecting the inclusion of babies
    22        and infants in this category who are unlikely to have
    23        pocket money.
    24        Parents with children aged five or over are more likely to
    25        agree... there is no significant difference between the
    26        views of mother's and fathers. The food advertising is most
    27        likely to draw criticism on this score with parents with
    28        children page 11 to 14. 56 percent of parents with children
    29        aged 11 to 14 think their children are being encouraged by
    30        advertising to spend pocket money... There is no
    31        significant regional and social class variations."
    32        Would you accept then that here it is fairly clear that
    33        parents are concerned that their children are being taken
    34        down a path towards unsuitable foods, as they put it?
    35        A.  Well, I do not think it says unsuitable. If I may
    36        correct you, it says foods I prefer them not to eat. I am
    37        not sure what relevance this has with anything connected
    38        with McDonalds, but certainly this question does say that
    39        40 percent of parents believe that some advertising
    40        encourages children to spend pocket money on certain
         products. That is not in doubt..
    42
    43   MR. JUSTICE BELL: I have to say that I have a difficulty with
    44        this, in that the word, concern, keeps being used and I am
    45        not poo pooing this, I will think about what place it has,
    46        but for instance, a parent might answer yes to question
    47        four, but not given it a single thought until the question
    48        was asked by the market researcher and then not give it a
    49        single thought after it is been answered. In those
    50        circumstances, it would seem wrong to me that that parent 
    51        is concerned because however they have answered the 
    52        question, it really is not worrying them at all. 
    53        Was there anything in the Morey pole which registered the
    54        degree of worry, if any, as opposed to just answering the
    55        questions?
    56        A.  In a survey they are just given, these four questions
    57        after 30 others.
    58
    59   MR. RAMPTON: I was going to come back to this but I notice that
    60        these questions are part of a monthly omnibus survey. Now,