Day 050 - 10 Nov 94 - Page 11

     
     1        not like the clothes that one of characters may be
     2        wearing.
     3
     4        Coming on to rather more specific things, they sometimes
     5        complain, for example, that they do not like the way
     6        somebody rides a bicycle in a commercial, or they think it
     7        is dangerous that a man is shown walking along a pavement
     8        carrying a ladder.
     9
    10        These are interesting and valid points.  If somebody feels
    11        sufficiently strongly about them to write to the ITC, then
    12        they should have complete liberty to do so.  But it does
    13        not mean that they are complaints which are being
    14        suppressed in any context that we are talking about.
    15
    16        Another complaint which comes up from time to time is, a
    17        number of people write in to say:  "I think that any eggs
    18        which are not grown free range should not be allowed to be
    19        advertised."  That is a point of view on which they hold
    20        strong views.  I do not think they are quite eccentric, but
         they are views that are held.
    22
    23        That is an example of something which is nothing to do with
    24        the codes.  It is the perception that individual members of
    25        the public have about life in general.
    26
    27        So that is the kind of thing which frequently comes up in
    28        the several hundred complaints which are looked at, taken
    29        seriously, but not upheld.
    30
    31   MS. STEEL:  You gave some examples of safety matters?
    32        A.  Yes.
    33
    34   Q.   That people were concerned about safe practices?
    35        A.  Yes.
    36
    37   Q.   You are saying that those examples you gave would not have
    38        been upheld?
    39        A.  That is so.  But if there was a practice that the ITC
    40        considered was a valid complaint, then they might uphold
         it.
    42
    43        There was a case a few years ago in which -- I forget for
    44        what product -- the scene shown was a family on the beach,
    45        and the children were burying their father in sand, not
    46        fully burying him but, as he slept, they were putting sand
    47        over him -- something we probably all did as children.  One
    48        person, or two people, wrote in to complain that that might
    49        be dangerous, because children might emulate it and pour
    50        sand over each other; it could be dangerous.  The ITC felt 
    51        that was an unlikely circumstance, but one which they 
    52        should take seriously; and they asked the company concerned 
    53        to withdraw that commercial.
    54
    55        That is an example of a subject which is a safety subject
    56        which might come up, which had not been anticipated.
    57
    58   Q.   You have also given an example of a safety problem, which
    59        some people would perceive as a safety problem, which was
    60        not upheld, the one with the ladder?