Day 054 - 24 Nov 94 - Page 48
1 product.
2
3 Q. Yes.
4 A. It is possible that they themselves placed greater
5 emphasis on the toy product. They may have also requested
6 other products.
7
8 Q. That may be so. All I am asking is, in the report is there
9 anything which gives us the strike rate for food and
10 cereals as opposed to the strike rate for the lot, whatever
11 they said it was, which was purchased for them? It may be
12 the answer is just simply no?
13 A. I do not think that it does.
14
15 MR. RAMPTON: My Lord, there is some information but it relates
16 only to toys. It is not necessarily the answer to your
17 Lordship's question anyway, what their parents bought them
18 on pages 7 and 8.
19
20 MR. MORRIS: In your opinion, Ms. Dibb, would you say that if
21 the figures for toy success in terms of getting their
22 parents to buy it were greater than food, that would only
23 in fact strengthen the argument against McDonald's use of
24 toys to promote food for children in any event?
25
26 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Well, I do not know. I have noticed, for
27 instance, the highest one of the lot was "My Little Pony".
28 I can remember there was a very intensive advertising
29 campaign in relation to "My Little Pony" I think it was
30 just before Christmas some years ago.
31 A. I think the fact that children were only asked to
32 identify one product does not give us a clear picture of
33 the totality of their requests.
34
35 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Anyway, it is obvious that the research has
36 its limitations, but you say for what it is worth, there it
37 is; it is some indication of a significant success rate in
38 requests for items which children have seen advertised?
39 A. Yes. In the conclusions on page 14 it concludes in the
40 third paragraph: "This influence pattern is of sufficient
41 interest to warrant follow-up examination of the
42 interchange between parents and children over requested
43 purchases. In particular", it goes on to say, "what is
44 view of the parent as well as the child." Because this
45 was -----
46
47 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Where is that sentence? I see, in the
48 penultimate paragraph.
49 A. Page 14, paragraph 3, starting in the middle "This
50 influence pattern is of sufficient interest..." It
51 recognises that this is an area in which the researchers
52 felt would warrant a follow-up examination of this
53 interchange between parents and children over requested
54 purchases to find out more about the attitudes of parents;
55 how harmoniously it was done or not and how often does the
56 parent reject as well as accept such requests.
57
58 MR. JUSTICE BELL: I have my own view and experience of how
59 reliable the answers of children of this age are. Is there
60 any equivalent research which says what the parents say as
