Day 043 - 01 Nov 94 - Page 28

     
     1        He is always trying to get hamburgers away from Ronald, but
     2        Ronald always seems to get them back.
     3
     4   MR. RAMPTON:  Is "Hamburger" particularly fond of hamburgers as
     5        opposed to other items of food?
     6        A.  That seems to be his favourite.
     7
     8   Q.   I take it that you have not asked him!   That is "The
     9        Grimace" and that is "Hamburger".  In America, there is
    10        somebody called "Birdie", is there not?
    11        A.  Yes.  "Birdie", the Early Bird.
    12
    13   Q.   What does he do?
    14        A.  It is actually a female character.
    15
    16   Q.   I am sorry -- she.
    17        A.  She loves the morning, enjoys getting up in the morning
    18        and going about her chores and her duties, and she likes to
    19        have breakfast at McDonald's.
    20
    Q.   Then there are some characters we saw yesterday, the
    22        "Chicken McNuggetts".  There seem to be quite a lot of
    23        those?
    24        A.  The McNuggett Puppets, yes.
    25
    26   Q.   Plainly, they have an association with the food item called
    27        "Chicken McNuggetts"?
    28        A.  Yes.  They are just a group of friendly, bumbly little
    29        characters.
    30
    31   Q.   Are you intending, by the use of the McNuggetts group, to
    32        suggest to children that what they see on the screen with
    33        those animated characters, those puppets, is what they are
    34        going to find when they eat a basket or a box of Chicken
    35        McNuggetts?
    36        A.  No.  They are clearly puppet characterisations, but
    37        they do take the shape of McNuggetts.
    38
    39   Q.   Are there some people called "Happy Meal Guys"?
    40        A.  Yes.  They are, again, puppets or characters that
         represent the three key elements of a Happy Meal.
    42
    43   Q.   We shall see, when we look at your reel in a moment, that
    44        there are also some people called "The Fried Kids"?
    45        A.  Yes.  They are sort of -- I do not know -- a bit of a
    46        whirling dervish; they look a bit like fries that are
    47        coming out.
    48
    49   Q.   I think I have run the gamut of the cast.  I think there is
    50        somebody called "Cosmic"? 
    51        A.  Cosmic, we do not use Cosmic as often, but he sort of 
    52        represents an outer space alien. 
    53
    54   Q.   Does he have association with any particular item of food?
    55        A.  Not really.  I think, in general, he just enjoys the
    56        fun of being part of McDonald's and characters and visiting
    57        McDonald's.
    58
    59   Q.   Why do you use all these different groups of characters in
    60        your children's advertising?