Day 045 - 03 Nov 94 - Page 22
1 the United States, is sometimes not very good. We try to
2 pride ourselves on having good angles on the food and
3 making the food look as appetising as possible, within the
4 context of using real ingredients and real food.
5
6 MR. JUSTICE BELL: Can we put that away now?
7
8 MS. STEEL: Yes.
9
10 MR. MORRIS: I am going back to ronald mcdonald. McDonald's did
11 a survey, did they not, that found that ronald mcdonald was
12 more well known or popular than Santa Claus; is that
13 correct?
14 A. I do not think-----
15
16 Q. A long time ago?
17 A. I do not think McDonald's actually did that survey.
18 I think it was a third party survey or a piece of research
19 that may have been commissioned by a number of people and
20 made available. Yes.
21
22 Q. Is that something that McDonald's has referred to or
23 mentioned?
24 A. Yes.
25
26 Q. Yes, it has. Is that something you would be proud of?
27 A. Obviously, if kids know who ronald mcdonald is and he
28 is a popular character, yes, we are proud of it.
29
30 Q. So when you want to say to people, "Hey, our character is
31 very popular", sometimes you say, "Well, our survey even
32 showed that he was more" -- whatever the word
33 was -- "well-known than Santa Claus"?
34 A. Recognisable. I have not said that, but yes, I have
35 heard other people express it in that manner, yes.
36
37 Q. Have you seen any evidence of this survey?
38 A. I do not remember whether I ever saw a specific survey
39 or not, with that context in it. I certainly have heard
40 the comment. Certainly, people in the department before me
41 have commented on it. There is a survey called The Que
42 Survey that comes out in the United States. They are
43 called Que scores and what it does, it just lists the
44 awareness of all kinds of characters and all kinds of
45 people, from ronald mcdonald to the Cool Aid Guy, to all
46 the different kinds of characters. I have referred to
47 that, as to where Ronald appears in his understanding from
48 people as to whether they know him or not, within that Que
49 Survey.
50
51 Q. So when McDonald's has referred to this survey -- or this
52 figure, or whatever it is -- I think it was 96 per cent of
53 kids had heard of ronald mcdonald, which was more than
54 Santa Claus. I am talking about back some time now; yes?
55 A. Yes.
56
57 Q. And puts that message over to people. If they have no
58 evidence to back it up, would it not be deceiving people?
59 A. Certainly, if we said that, we should have something
60 that gave us that indication, yes.
