Day 065 - 09 Dec 94 - Page 39
1 advertising and the effects that advertising may have on
2 them, which may be entirely independent of that
3 understanding.
4
5 MR. RAMPTON: I am not sure I follow that. Surely, the two
6 things are intimately connected, are they not?
7 A. I talked about this several times. I will go back, if
8 you would like me to.
9
10 Q. Yes.
11 A. To separate out that there is a difference in looking
12 at, which many academic researchers have chosen to do, what
13 children may or may not understand or comprehend at
14 different ages; that what they may or may not comprehend
15 does not necessarily bear on the influence that advertising
16 may have on them. After all, we all, as adults, understand
17 the nature of the effect of advertising, but that does not
18 stop us being influenced by advertising.
19
20 Q. No.
21 A. So, that is the distinction that I think you were
22 seeking clarification on?
23
24 Q. Yes.
25 A. This, as I say, recently came up in a conversation with
26 Frank Willis when I was at the ITC.
27
28 Q. What he thought, with respect, does not matter.
29 A. But what is -- to make the point that children may very
30 well, as they get older, learn to understand more about
31 advertising. That does not, is not the same as saying that
32 advertising does not influence them.
33
34 Q. No, of course not.
35 A. I think it is important not to confuse those two
36 things.
37
38 Q. I fully understand that, but the same is true of adults, is
39 it not?
40 A. The same is true of adults in the sense that ----
41
42 Q. Adults understand what advertising is, what it is intended
43 to do, and it influences them?
44 A. That is exactly my point.
45
46 Q. I know it is. So why bother to distinguish between the
47 effect of advertising on children and the effect of
48 advertising on adults?
49 A. For two reasons that I think I thought I made earlier.
50 One is that whilst children's understanding of advertising
51 may not be the key factor in what might influence them,
52 nonetheless, there is an argument that has been raised and
53 has gone on in the States in the 1970s. There has been a
54 debate that went on here, I think, when government
55 committees looked into this, as to what extent it may be
56 considered -- society may consider it right to advertise to
57 children who may not fully understand the nature and
58 purpose of advertising.
59
60 The second reason comes back to the nutrition one, and the
