witness statement



name: Juliet Gellatley
section: Advertising
for: The Defence
experience: Vegetarian Researcher and Educator

summary:

No other burger chain has ever been raised in school talks. I found the widespread worry (particularly of teenagers) to not be able to go into McDonald's quite extraordinary. Young people have a strong desire to be seen as 'normal' by their peers and peer influence often alters children's food preferences (eg Birch L.L., 1989, Developmental aspects of eating in Handbook of the Psychophysiology of Human Eating, ed R. Shepherd). McDonald's have clearly succeeded in indocrinating many children to believe that indeed they are not normal if they do not patronise their outlets.

cv:


Director of Youth Education and Campaigns, The Vegetarian Society 1987 to 1993

Editor of Greenscene magazine for 10 to 17 year olds 1987 to 1992

Editor and Joint Researcher/ Author of Vegetarian Issues: A Resource Pack for Secondary Schools 1992

Full cv: (not available for this witness)

full statement:

I have read the summary of the defence pleadings and in particular the section on Advertising aimed at children. I understand the issues raised and have the following coments:


As Director of Youth Education of the Vegetarian Society I have been invited to talk to more than 400 schools in the UK to pupils between the ages of eight and 18 years. From 1983 to 1993 I gave in the region of 500 talks to approximately 30,000 pupils. I have given more school talks on the subject of vegetarianism than probably anyone else in Britain.


School Talk

A school talk most frequently consisted of either showing a 20 minute video, followed by a 20 minute talk then a 20 minute debate or of a 20 to 30 minute talk followed by a 20 to 30 minute debate. Question from pupils and teachers were invited during the talk itself.


The statement in the leaflet "What's Wrong With McDonald's?" says that the McDonald's ads "traps children into thinking they aren't normal" if they don't go there too.

I have found this to be true. In the debate section of my talks one of the concerns voiced about becoming vegetarian was that the children/ teenagers would not be able to go to McDonald's with their friends. When probed further the children/ teenagers almost always replied that they "want to be seen as normal" or "don't want to be laughed at" for refusing to meet their friends or eating at McDonald's. They also said that McDonald's excluded vegetarians in their minds because it only really sold meat, that the chips were cooked in beef fat, and to the teenagers, it was not an ethical place to be.

In these discussions pupils were encouraged to be, and almost always were, forthright with their views. The reasons given for feeling influenced by McDonald's came down to their marketing and in particular their TV advertising. The older pupils said they went to McDonald's because of the 'hype' and because they knew about the chain from being tots. The younger children mentioned the contents of the ads and the characters used, again advertising was the main influence on their reason for visiting McDonald's.


David Green, Senior Vice President of Marketing, McDonald's Corporation, states that McDonald's aim their advertising at children aged two to eight years and at 'tweens' aged 8 to 14. Fifeen and above are presumably counted as adults. Ronald McDonald is aimed at the youngest group. In my experience Mr Green's claim that McDonald's do not exploit children because they do not use 'exhortative language' so that 'children are encouraged to ask their parents to bring them to McDonald's' is farcical. Clearly, a main purpose of the advertising aimed at two to eight year olds is precisely to encourage children to ask their parents to take them to McDonald's - otherwise what would be the point in advertising directly to such young children?


McDonalds Do Exploit Children

In my experience McDonald's do exploit children. In my talks some younger children openly admitted that they pester their parents to take them to McDonald's, even if the parent is not keen. Primary school children also frequently talked about the McDonald's ads as if they were information giving rather than selling. This is in my view worrying and dangerous, particualry when we live in a society where three-quarters of childen eat more fat than recommended by government. Also, the ads believe that, for example, chicken nuggets are made from real birds. The talking 'happy' nuggets in TV ads encourage this ridiculous falsehood. Younger children are being conned into believing that McDonald's ads are undisputed fact. Furthermore the statement by Michael Hayden, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, McDonald's Restaurants Limited, states that Ronald McDonald is used at doctors, dentists, schools, libraries and sports centres to congratulate children on their achievements. This again is a cynical exploitation of young children who in my experience do not realise that the clown is there primarily to sell the brand image of and loyalty to McDonald's.

No other burger chain has ever been raised in school talks. I found the widespread worry (particularly of teenagers) to not be able to go into McDonald's quite extraordinary. Young people have a strong desire to be seen as 'normal' by their peers and peer influence often alters children's food preferences (eg Birch L.L., 1989, Developmental aspects of eating in Handbook of the Psychophysiology of Human Eating, ed R. Shepherd). McDonald's have clearly succeeded in indocrinating many children to believe that indeed they are not normal if they do not patronise their outlets.

status: Appeared in court
references: Not applicable/ available

exhibits: Not applicable/ available

transcripts of court appearances:

related links:

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