Day 050 - 10 Nov 94 - Page 30

     
     1        A.  Well, sales promotion is a fairly broad term covering a
     2        whole variety of activities, but it might be a competition
     3        in the context of a product; it might be what is called "a
     4        premium", if you offer a free something in connection with
     5        a product or encourage people to save up labels:  "Save
     6        five labels and send them away and we will return to you a
     7        gift of some kind."
     8
     9        A whole variety of things are lumped together under the
    10        heading of "sales promotion", but they mostly consist of
    11        adding something, whether it is value or whether it is a
    12        gift of some kind, an item of some kind, in response for
    13        buying a product or buying a product over a period of time
    14        on a series of occasions.
    15
    16   Q.   What if the Automobile Association produces a guide to the
    17        AA:  "This is what we do, this is what we are all about",
    18        and distributes that through its street vending basis,
    19        would that be covered by the ASA?
    20        A.  Yes, it would.  It is not a sales promotion but, yes,
         it would be the kind of printed material which obviously
    22        originated from that organisation and, therefore, they
    23        would be expected to observe the same rules about
    24        truthfulness and misleadingness, et cetera.
    25
    26   Q.   So, in other words, it is anything a company produces which
    27        is promoting itself to the public?
    28        A.  That is broadly correct, though, as I have said,
    29        packaging and labels are not covered.
    30
    31   Q.   Are they covered by other -----
    32        A.  No.  They would be covered by the Trade Descriptions
    33        Act and other legislation, but they are not included in the
    34        ambit of the Advertising Standards Authority.
    35
    36   MR. MORRIS:  We are close to the end.  There was one point
    37        I missed out on the ITC 1993, as compared to -- wait a
    38        minute.  I am sorry.
    39
    40   MS. STEEL:   Earlier on in your evidence, in
         examination-in-chief, you said that you were in a position
    42        to tell the court the purposes and perceived effects of
    43        advertising in this country.  Were you talking about the
    44        perceived effects on consumers?
    45        A.  I am afraid I do not remember precisely what I said at
    46        the time, but I am certainly happy to talk about my
    47        understanding of how consumers see advertising, my
    48        understanding of how advertising works.  I am certainly
    49        happy to answer any questions on that subject.
    50 
    51   Q.   What I wanted to know is the extent of the basis of your 
    52        assertion that you are in a position to be able to tell the 
    53        court those things?
    54        A.  Well, as I did explain earlier, I have worked in my
    55        current capacity for 15 years, in which I advise hundreds
    56        of companies on a whole variety of questions and issues
    57        that they ask for advice about.  I have participated in a
    58        great many discussions, chaired many conferences,
    59        et cetera, on subjects of that kind.  Before that, I worked
    60        in companies which used advertising in different markets