Day 055 - 25 Nov 94 - Page 06

     
     1        for the type of advertising?  They have used the word
     2        "exhort"; that implies some kind of particular strength,
     3        persuasiveness, or something, of the advertising.  Would
     4        you like to comment about that?
     5        A.  Yes.  The word "exhort" is a strong word.
     6
     7   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  It means "express invitation" really, does it
     8        not; you must not make an express invitation to buy
     9        something?  You do not agree with where they have drawn the
    10        line?
    11        A.  I think the word "express" is equivalent to "direct".
    12        One could make an indirect, and, therefore, not an express
    13        exhortation.
    14
    15   MR. MORRIS:  So if the advertising to children was purely
    16        informational or something, would that be exhortative, in
    17        your interpretation of this?
    18        A.  Yes.  But advertising is not information; advertising
    19        is persuasion, as well.  I think it would be wrong for
    20        advertising to be shown purely as information or it to be
         understood purely as information.  It may contain some
    22        information, but it certainly has a persuasive intent.
    23
    24   Q.   So what about number 6, then?
    25        A.  Number 6 refers to appeals to loyalty, and says:
    26
    27        "No advertisement may imply that unless children themselves
    28        buy or encourage other people to buy a product or service,
    29        they would be failing in some duty or lacking in
    30        loyalty."
    31
    32        Again, the way that this is generally interpreted by the
    33        ITC is to rule out blatant and direct appeals to loyalty,
    34        but, again, it does not deal with the more subtle
    35        advertising messages and the indirect appeals to loyalty.
    36
    37        I believe that much advertising to children and, as I think
    38        I said yesterday when I referred to some of the McDonald's
    39        advertisements, I do believe that the techniques that are
    40        employed do lead children to believe that -- particularly,
         we talked about in relation to ronald mcdonald and the
    42        sense of loyalty that children may have to him -- and the
    43        sense that the use of other children in advertisements will
    44        draw in children to the McDonald's world, and they will
    45        want to feel part of that, and children have a great sense
    46        of loyalty to their group, to their peers; that I think
    47        advertising to children in many cases does appeal to their
    48        loyalty.
    49
    50   Q.   Have you anything you want to draw attention to in the rest 
    51        of the points, before number 11 which is obviously an 
    52        important one?  Restrictions on times of transmission; we 
    53        cannot really comment on the interpretation of that, I
    54        should not think; it is pretty clear, is it not?
    55        A.  No.  I think from the point of view of talking about
    56        where I feel the spirit of the Code is not fully
    57        implemented in relation to advertising and children,
    58        I think, I feel I have covered the main areas or points
    59        I wanted to make.
    60