Day 050 - 10 Nov 94 - Page 09
1 been proposed?
2
3 MR. JUSTICE BELL: We did go into this before ---
4
5 MR. MORRIS: Yes, I am -----
6
7 MR. JUSTICE BELL: -- because he answered in the affirmative my
8 suggestion that, for better or worse, they decided to draw
9 the line between that situation and frank exhortation.
10
11 MR. MORRIS: Yes.
12
13 MR. JUSTICE BELL: You say they are wrong.
14
15 MR. MORRIS: (To the witness) Where they drawn the line is
16 their decision, basically?
17 A. Yes.
18
19 Q. So if people, not understanding the Code -- what I am
20 saying is that the number of complaints that are validated
21 does not necessarily represent the fact that the public is
22 entirely happy with the effects of advertising on children?
23 A. No. It does not entirely equal the same. They are not
24 the same thing. But if I may point out, there is also the
25 question of how many complaints they get in the first
26 place. It is not only whether the complaints are upheld.
27 If they receive a very small number of complaints on any
28 specific subject, whether the complaint is upheld or not,
29 that is an indication, I would suggest, that there is not a
30 high level of concern.
31
32 Q. The 498 people every month -- we are not just talking about
33 food advertising to children, but we are talking about the
34 498 people that do feel so strongly that they want to make
35 a formal complaint -- if it is not validated, are going to
36 feel that their concerns are being taken into consideration
37 -- or maybe they are complaining about -----
38
39 MR. JUSTICE BELL: It must depend on what the complaints are,
40 must it not?
41
42 MR. MORRIS: I think that is a very, very low success rate. It
43 is a very low validation rate -- one per cent?
44 A. I am afraid I cannot agree with you. As I have said,
45 the small number that are upheld reflects the fact that the
46 pre-screening system, the pre-vetting system, is very
47 effective. It eliminates almost all the items that might
48 have been contentious and that might have been the cause of
49 an upheld complaint.
50
51 Q. But I put to you that a conclusion could equally be drawn
52 that the pre-vetting procedures may eliminate the direct
53 transgressions of the Code, but they are obviously not
54 eliminating all the concerns, otherwise there would not be
55 hardly any complaint at all.
56
57 The point is that four or five that are validated are ones
58 where the Code is directly transgressed, but the 495 that
59 are not, within a wide range of concerns which may be
60 concerned with the spirit of the problems that the ITC is
