Day 065 - 09 Dec 94 - Page 69
1 Q. The question I ask is: These questions, as a bunch of
2 questions, are all about children and advertising and
3 healthy balanced diets, or the converse such as "soft
4 drinks and food I would not otherwise buy"; that is right,
5 is it not?
6 A. I am still not quite clear of the question. Excuse me.
7
8 Q. The point of the question is this: If you ask people
9 questions like this, particularly parents of children (and
10 that is the class that was selected to answer these
11 questions), it is entirely predictable that you are going
12 to get the answers that you got because, as you rightly
13 point out, people's verbalization does not always match
14 their behaviour?
15 A. But we are not trying to measure behaviour here. We
16 are trying to measure attitudes.
17
18 Q. "I often end up buying advertised foods or drinks which
19 I wouldn't otherwise buy, because my children ask me to" --
20 attitude or behaviour, which is it?
21 A. Yes, on that point that is asking people to give their
22 opinion of how they see their behaviour, yes.
23
24 Q. You know perfectly well that the mother who answers that
25 question is going to blame the advertising for the fact
26 that she indulges her little Johnny by buying him
27 sweeties. It is human nature, is it not, if you ask a
28 question like that?
29 A. I think many mothers would be quite offended by that
30 remark. I think mothers and fathers, for that matter, do
31 not generally go around without due consideration of their
32 role as parents.
33
34 Q. These, you say, are largely about attitudes with one
35 exception which is about behaviour?
36 A. Yes.
37
38 Q. You can argue about what question 4 is, if you want to.
39 People are not necessarily accurate in their reported
40 assumptions and attitudes. People report their assumptions
41 and attitudes to pollsters in a way which is going to do
42 two things, do they not? There is this tendency -- I do
43 not say it applies everywhere and to everybody -- first, to
44 give the pollsters the answer they think he or she wants;
45 second, to cover up for their own inadequacies of attitude
46 and assumption; that is right, is it not?
47 A. I think that would be a question that somebody who
48 conducts these surveys could best answer. I think that
49 both of those may occur in certain circumstances but I do
50 not think that they are the main reason. I think when
51 people are asked questions they are generally interested in
52 trying to give what they think is their opinion.
53
54 Q. Unless it touches upon the way in which they bring up their
55 children. Just imagine for a moment, how many people do
56 you think are going to willingly admit that they themselves
57 are responsible for feeding their children an unhealthy
58 diet when asked by the pollsters? Just think about it.
59 A. That was not a question that was asked.
60
