Day 047 - 07 Nov 94 - Page 05
1 general to children?
2 A. Yes.
3
4 Q. So far as your experience over the last 40 years, and the
5 last 15 in particular, is concerned, how well do you
6 estimate that our regulatory framework is successful in
7 preventing the publication and transmission of deceptive or
8 misleading advertisements?
9 A. I believe that it works very effectively, that very
10 little gets through the pre-screening operations which
11 apply in television. I am sure you are familiar with the
12 fact that all scripts have to be seen by the Authority or
13 their representatives before a film is made, the finished
14 film has to be seen; and any complaints that come
15 thereafter are usually over nuances that have not been
16 expected or interpretations that people have taken out of a
17 commercial that were not seen there. So the number of
18 actual complaints which are upheld in television is really
19 very small.
20
21 Q. Can I ask you this: if there were a large number of
22 complaints from parents and others in this country to the
23 effect that the television advertising to children was
24 effectively brainwashing the children, do you think you
25 would know about it?
26 A. Indeed, I would.
27
28 Q. Is there such a, what I might call, ground swell of
29 discontent from the general public about children's
30 advertising?
31 A. No, there is certainly not.
32
33 Q. Are you able to say, again in broad terms, taking a period
34 of say five or ten years, on average, how many complaints
35 are found to be well founded in relation to children's
36 advertising in a year?
37 A. I have not the figures in my head, but I would have
38 guessed one or two.
39
40 Q. Have you any idea, roughly speaking again, how many
41 television advertisements are put out which children may
42 see during the course of the year?
43 A. A few thousand.
44
45 Q. You have seen, I understand, a video tape, a compilation of
46 advertisements directed at children by McDonald's?
47 A. Yes, I have.
48
49 Q. Did they feature ronald mcdonald in quite a lot of them?
50 A. Yes, some of them did.
51
52 Q. Did some of them feature offers of toys if you came and
53 bought a meal?
54 A. Certainly.
55
56 Q. To your mind -- and I am not going to put any kind of
57 thought in your head, and I am not talking about aesthetic
58 qualities; we can leave those on one side -- what was the
59 quality of those television advertisements as
60 advertisements to children?
