Day 050 - 10 Nov 94 - Page 20

     
     1   Q.   Or that the next time they want something to eat in the
     2        school lunch break or on the way to school, they prefer to
     3        have a chocolate bar rather than an apple or a piece other
     4        fruit?
     5        A.  It is for their parents to decide, or them to decide,
     6        what different foods they want to eat.  They may well eat
     7        an apple and a chocolate bar.  But no advertisement would
     8        be allowed to say: "Don't eat an apple.  Eat this."
     9
    10   Q.   No.  But that is what the advertisers would like to happen.
    11        They may not say it explicitly.
    12        A.  That is a hypothesis I cannot go along with.  No
    13        advertiser is going to want children not to eat apples or
    14        want adults not to eat apples.  That is merely a hypothesis
    15        on your part.
    16
    17   Q.   You mentioned about peer pressure?
    18        A.  No.  I talked about peer influence.  I did not say peer
    19        pressure.
    20
    Q.   What do you mean by that, then?
    22        A.  If children are in the playground or eating their
    23        packed lunch, they will look at what each other has.  "Oh,
    24        your mother gives you one of those, does she?"  That is the
    25        kind of influence which may well apply.
    26
    27   Q.   You said something else after, "Oh, your mother gives you
    28        one of those, does she?"  Your voice dropped, and I do not
    29        think it has come out on the transcript.
    30        A.  I do not think I said anything else.  They
    31        observe -----
    32
    33   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It is down correctly.
    34
    35   THE WITNESS:   One child will observe what the other has in its
    36        lunch box, or in the things they play with.  They take
    37        intense interest in what other children do.  They may well
    38        copy them.  They may well go in the opposite direction.
    39        But that is normal child behaviour.
    40
    MS. STEEL: The choices made by those children, those other
    42        children, could well have been influenced by
    43        advertisements, could they not?
    44        A.  Yes.  It is perfectly possible that they may have, yes.
    45
    46   Q.   You said in evidence-in-chief that you knew from research
    47        that many parents find a real problem in getting their
    48        children to eat reasonably balanced meals.  Then you went
    49        on to say, "So if there were eating out occasions which the
    50        children liked the idea of, that is a meal that is not 
    51        going to have any hassle to get the children to eat.  It is 
    52        going to be welcomed by all the parties." 
    53        A.  Yes.
    54
    55   Q.   But that is in terms of persuading them to eat a reasonably
    56        balanced meal?
    57        A.  Not necessarily an individual meal.  You have to see
    58        the total mixture of food -- I will not say diet -- the
    59        total mixture of the food that the child eats in the course
    60        of a day, a week, a month.