Day 043 - 01 Nov 94 - Page 25

     
     1        A.  Yes.
     2
     3   Q.   I think it is supposed to mean -- correct me if I am wrong
     4        -- that the advertising induces the child to nag its
     5        parents to do this or the other, or buy this that or the
     6        other; is that right?
     7        A.  I believe that is what it means.
     8
     9   Q.   Do you see that as being a principal function of McDonald's
    10        advertising to children?
    11        A.  Not really.  It certainly does happen; and, having a
    12        child of my own, it certainly has happened where they will
    13        want to go somewhere and they will ask me many times to go
    14        somewhere.  But, in general, I think our advertising really
    15        wants to just establish a good relationship with the child
    16        and inform them of the things that go on at McDonald's, as
    17        well as to make it a fun place.
    18
    19   Q.   One could think, perhaps, of a situation where a parent had
    20        decided to go to McDonald's, for example, and the child did
         not want to go but wanted to go to Burger King.  Do you
    22        envisage that kind of thing?
    23        A.  Certainly.  It is a very competitive marketplace, and
    24        there is advertising for many quick service restaurants to
    25        children; and we would hope that when the decision is made,
    26        and the parent asks, that it would be made to go to
    27        McDonald's.
    28
    29   MR. JUSTICE BELL:  Do Burger King have an equivalent character
    30        to Ronald?
    31        A.  They have a Burger King character that they have used
    32        off and on.  It is not as consistent a character as Ronald
    33        has been.
    34
    35   MR. RAMPTON:  I want to come to Ronald in a minute -- in fact,
    36        in the very next minute -- but I want to ask one other
    37        question before I do that, Mr. Green.  Do you have any
    38        evidence of whether or not a loyalty to McDonald's
    39        engendered in a child -- perhaps by advertising, perhaps by
    40        having visited the store -- persists through teenage into
         adulthood?
    42        A.  Not really.  Usually, in fact, a child changes their
    43        patterns of visitation as they get a bit older.  When they
    44        reach about an age 14 or 15 years old they are
    45        experimenting and they may want to shed some of things they
    46        thought were important when they were a child, and that is
    47        the time we find that if children enjoyed going to
    48        McDonald's, that is the time when they go out and enjoy
    49        other quick service restaurants.
    50 
    51   Q.   Is there any way in which, through your advertising, you 
    52        can try and stop that happening? 
    53        A.  I do not think so.  I think it is a natural inclination
    54        that children have as they grow up.
    55
    56   Q.   In relation to the next age group upwards, that is to say,
    57        young adults, 16 to 24, who probably do not have children,
    58        do you see a problem (identified by Mr. Hawkes) of
    59        promiscuity in the United States, in other words, showering
    60        their favours on all and sundry within the sector?