McDonaldland
McDonaldland was a fantasy world used in the marketing for McDonald's restaurants during the 1970s through the 1990s. McDonaldland was inhabited by Ronald McDonald and other characters. In addition to being used in advertising, the characters were used as the basis for equipment in the "PlayPlaces" attached to some McDonald's. The McDonaldland commercials alongside the characters were dropped from McDonald's advertising in 2003, but Ronald McDonald is still seen in commercials and in Happy Meal toys.
History
Early years (1970–1972)
McDonaldland was created by Needham, Harper & Steers in 1970–71 at the request of McDonald's for its restaurants. The first commercial aired in January 1971. The early commercials were built on an upbeat, bubblegum-style tune and featured a narrator; many had plots that involved various villains trying to steal a corresponding food item but are foiled by Ronald.In 1976, Remco created a line of six-inch action figures to celebrate the characters.
Lawsuit (1973)
In 1973, Sid and Marty Krofft sued McDonald's by claiming that the entire McDonaldland premise plagiarized their television show. The Kroffts also claimed that the character Mayor McCheese was an infringement on their copyrighted character "H.R. Pufnstuf". At trial, a jury found in favor of the Kroffts and McDonald's was ordered to pay $50,000. The case was appealed by both parties to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. The appeals court, in the 1977 decision of Sid & Marty Krofft Television Productions Inc. v. McDonald's Corp., reassessed damages in favor of the Kroffts to more than $1,000,000. As a result, McDonald's was ordered to stop producing many of the characters and to stop airing commercials featuring the characters.Popularity (1980–1998)
In the 1980s and 1990s, the McDonaldland commercials remained a popular marketing device. The characters that remained following the lawsuit were Ronald McDonald, Grimace, Hamburglar and the French Fry Gobblins while Mayor McCheese, Officer Big Mac, Captain Crook and the Professor were used until 1985. Birdie the Early Bird would join the lineup soon after representing the restaurant's new breakfast line in the early 1980s. Some of the characters' physical appearances were revised in later commercials. From then on the characters lived in reality and interacted with real-life people, but commercials still took place in "McDonaldland". Soon after the Happy Meal Gang and the McNugget Buddies were prominent features in the commercials along with Ronald.Merchandise featuring the McDonaldland characters included a kid-friendly magazine titled "McDonaldland Fun Times", which published six issues a year. A direct-to-video animated film titled The Adventures of Ronald McDonald: McDonaldland Treasure Island was released in 1989, featuring much of the McDonaldland characters from the 1980s. Video games featuring the characters were also released, such as M.C. Kids and McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure.
Later years (1998–2003)
From 1998 until 2003, Rugrats creators Klasky Csupo and McDonald's released an animated direct-to-video series exclusively on VHS titled The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald. The series depicted Ronald, Grimace, Birdie, the Hamburglar and a few new characters, like Ronald's pessimistic dog Sundae. These videos would begin in live-action in what resembled a futuristic McDonaldland. Whenever the characters would enter down a tube or other means of travel, they would become animated. In all six episodes, Ronald goes on adventures with his friends and they learn new things along the way.In the early 2000s, McDonald's experimented with the possibility of animating the characters to improve ratings. Various spots featuring the Hamburglar and other characters alongside celebrities were planned but were canceled. A conflict emerged between agencies regarding whether to continue using the characters or to follow through the desire of ad agency Leo Burnett by elevating the "I'm lovin' it" campaign and phasing out the characters, resulting in McDonald's choosing the latter option and completely retiring the McDonaldland characters.
Legacy
In recent years, the McDonaldland premise has largely been dropped out of advertising campaigns and Happy Meal toys. Despite this, the characters continued to appear in McDonald's PlayPlaces, decorative seats for children's birthday parties and bibs, though only Ronald McDonald, Birdie, Grimace, Hamburglar and the Fry Kids appear in them. They also appeared on some soft drink cups until 2008 and still appear as cookies in pouches titled "McDonaldland Cookies".Today, the characters also appear on the windows of some McDonald's restaurants. Modern commercials nowadays depict Ronald McDonald alone in real-world situations with children, whether he visits a local McDonald's restaurant or to visit sick children at a Ronald McDonald House. Grimace, however, had a non-speaking appearance in an advertisement for Monsters vs. Aliens Happy Meal toys while the Hamburglar appeared in an adult-oriented commercial advertising the Big Mac.
Characters
- Ronald McDonald – The primary cultural icon and official mascot of McDonald's. He is a clown with red hair and a big red smile who wears a yellow jumpsuit and red shoes. While his suit has gone through various changes over the years, it has basically remained the same.
- Hamburglar – A pint-sized burglar who was introduced in 1971 as one of the first antagonists of the commercials where often attempts to steal burgers from Ronald. Originally, Hamburglar spoke in a gibberish language which had to be translated by Captain Crook. He was reintroduced in 1985 as one of the main protagonists where he spoke in a normal sentence. From 1971 to 1992, Hamburglar was In 2015, McDonald's brought back the Hamburglar as part of the promotion of a new sirloin burger.
- Grimace – A large purple monster who was first introduced in November 1971 as the "Evil Grimace". In Grimace's first appearances, he was one of the original main antagonists and was depicted with two pairs of arms which was used to steal sodas and shakes. "Evil" was soon dropped from Grimace's name and he was reintroduced in 1972 as a protagonist where he only has one set of arms. He was then a rather clumsy monster from then on.
- Mayor McCheese – An enormous cheeseburger-headed character who first appeared in 1971 and was removed in 1985. He sported a top hat, a diplomat's sash and a pair of pince-nez spectacles and was portrayed as McDonaldland's bumbling and incompetent mayor who was the subject of a lawsuit filed by Sid and Marty Krofft for being a copy of H.R. Pufnstuf.
- Officer Big Mac – Introduced in 1971 and was dropped in 1985, he was similar to Mayor McCheese in appearance that he had a large burger for a head. In his case, his head was a Big Mac rather than a cheeseburger. Officer Big Mac was the chief of police and as such he wore a constable uniform with a disproportionately small custodian helmet resting atop his head bun. As the main source of law and order in McDonaldland, Officer Big Mac spent most of his time chasing Hamburglar and Captain Crook.
- Captain Crook – A pirate captain who was introduced in 1971 as one of the main antagonists and was dropped in 1985. Captain Crook steals Filet-O-Fish sandwiches and often interprets Hamburgler's gibberish. He was revised in 1984 with a Muppet-like appearance and later became simply known as "The Captain" where he has a parrot and operates the S.S. Filet-O-Fish.
- The Professor – A scientist who was McDonaldland's inventor and researcher. He was introduced in 1971 and has invented different devices throughout McDonaldland like the Psychedelic Electronic Hamburger Machine, the Dinner Gong, an invisible car that helped Ronald McDonald get to McDonald's to meet with the kids, a magnetic bat, and the Chicken McNugget Dip-O-Matic. In his first appearance, he was a bespectacled man with a short beard, neck-length hair, and a hat. In later appearances in the 70s, he was a bespectacled man with a long beard. In the 80s, he was a bespectacled man with a moustache, a long nose, and a helmet with a lightbulb on it. The character was dropped in 1985.
- Fry Kids – Introduced in 1972 as "Gobblins", the Fry Kids are small, shaggy, ball-like creatures with legs and no arms who try to steal other characters' French fries.
- Birdie the Early Bird – A yellow bird wearing a pink jumpsuit, flight cap and scarf who was introduced in 1980 as the first female character. Made to promote the company's new breakfast items, she was depicted as a poor flyer and a somewhat clumsy person in general.
- The Happy Meal Gang – Introduced in 1979, they were joined by the McNugget Buddies in 1984 and the Happy Meal Box and the Under 3 Toy in 1992. They consist of The Happy Meal Hamburger, the Happy Meal Fries and the Happy Meal Drink.
- Uncle O'Grimacey – Introduced in 1977 for an advertising narrative of McDonald's both in celebration of Saint Patrick's Day and to mark the annual appearance of the Shamrock Shake, he is depicted as Grimace's uncle.
- CosMc – An alien who appeared in commercials during the mid-1980s. CosMc was a character in the video game M.C. Kids.
- The McNugget Buddies – A bunch of anthropomorphic regular-sized Chicken McNuggets who were introduced in 1984.
- Bernice – A strange creature that was introduced in 1992 and that ate inedible things like the script in the three-part "Ronald McDonald Makin' Movies" commercial.
- Vulture – An unnamed vulture who spoke in a monotone voice.
- Sundae – Ronald's dog who has appeared only in The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald where he was animated with puppetry.
- Iam Hungry – A short-lived McDonaldland character who was introduced in 1998 and was dropped in 2001. Self-proclaimed as the "Vice President of Snacking", the character was a floating, fast-moving green fuzzball with orange arms and a monstrous face.
- Mike the Microphone – A one-time character created especially for the Kid Rhino albums Ronald Makes It Magic and Ronald McDonald presents Silly Sing Along.
In other media
- Ronald McDonald appears during a child's birthday party at a McDonald's in one scene of the film Mac & Me. He is portrayed by Squire Fridell, who played Ronald in commercials during the latter half of the 1980s.
- Mayor McCheese makes appearances in three episodes of the Fox animated television series Family Guy: "Believe It or Not, Joe's Walking on Air", "Road to the Multiverse" and "Valentine's Day in Quahog"; in all three episodes, he is voiced by John Viener. In "Believe it or Not, Joe's Walking on Air," Mayor McCheese is told by Dr. Hartman why they can't perform a specific surgery on him. In "Road to the Multiverse," Stewie and Brian visit a post-apocalyptic world where Frank Sinatra wasn't born to influence Kennedy's election and Richard Nixon botched the Cuban missile crisis causing World War III. When Brian quotes that Lee Harvey Oswald never shot Kennedy, Stewie quoted "No, he shot Mayor McCheese" as a cutaway shoes him shot in the head as his wife eats the hamburger meat. Brian quotes that the joke wasn't a bad taste while Stewie quotes "Who cares? He's a cheeseburger." In "Valentine's Day in Quahog," Mayor McCheese was revealed to be another mayor that had an affair with Carol Pewterschmidt after Mayor Adam West defeated the unnamed Mayor of Weekapaug.