McDonaldland

McDonaldland is a fantasy world used in the marketing for McDonald's restaurants during the 1970s through the 1990s. McDonaldland is 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 outlets. The McDonaldland commercials featuring the characters were dropped from McDonald's advertising in 2003, but Ronald McDonald is still seen in commercials and in Happy Meal toys.

For the video game, see M.C. Kids.
McDonaldland
AgencyNeedham, Harper & Steers
ClientMcDonald's
Release date(s)1971–2003

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 feature a narrator; many have plots that involve various villains, like the Hamburglar, Evil Grimace, and Captain Crook trying to steal a corresponding food item but are constantly foiled by Ronald.[1]

In 1976, Remco created a line of six-inch (15 cm) action figures to celebrate the characters.[1]

Lawsuit (1973)
Further information: Sid & Marty Krofft Television Productions Inc. v. McDonald's Corp.

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" (a mayor himself). 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.[1][2] As a result, McDonald's was ordered to stop producing many of the characters and to stop airing commercials featuring the characters.[1]

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 (renamed the Fry Guys and later the Fry Kids with the addition of the Fry Girls) while Mayor McCheese, Officer Big Mac, Captain Crook and the Professor were used until 1985. (However, they did return for a Sears advertisement in 1987). 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 (notably Hamburglar, Grimace and Birdie). 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 (representing the restaurant's Happy Meals and Chicken McNuggets respectively, being the menu items that mainly appealed to kids) 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 (performed by Frank Delfino from 1971-1992, Jerry Maren in some commercials, Tommy Vicini from 1992 to 2003,[3][4] voiced by Larry Storch from 1971 to 1986, Howard Morris from 1986 to 2003, Charlie Adler in some commercials during the mid 1980s and in The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald, and Carl W. Wolfe in some commercials during the 1990s[5]) – A pint-sized burglar who was introduced in 1971 as one of the first antagonists of the commercials where he 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 normal sentences. In 2015, McDonald's brought back the Hamburglar as part of the promotion of a new sirloin burger.[6]
  • Grimace (performed by Patty Saunders, voiced by Lennie Weinrib from 1971 to 1986, Frank Welker and sometimes Larry Moran from 1986 to 2003,[5] Kevin Michael Richardson in The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald) – 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 were 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 is then a rather clumsy but still amiable monster from then on.
Due to his similarities with Sid and Marty Krofft's character H.R. Pufnstuf (right), Mayor McCheese was the subject of a lawsuit filed by the brothers against McDonald's for copying their character.
Officer Big Mac climb-in jail playground.
  • Officer Big Mac (performed by Jerry Maren, voiced by Ted Cassidy[5]) – Introduced in 1971 and was dropped in 1985, he is similar to Mayor McCheese in appearance that he has a large burger for a head. In his case, his head is a Big Mac (minus the vegetables and special sauce) rather than a cheeseburger. Officer Big Mac is the chief of police and as such he wears 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 spends most of his time chasing Hamburglar and Captain Crook.
  • Captain Crook (performed by Bob Towers, voiced by Larry Storch in 1971-1983, Tim Blaney in 1984-1985[5]) – 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 (portrayed by Lou Wagner, voiced by John Stephenson in the 1970s, Andre Stojka in the 1980s[5]) – A scientist who is McDonaldland's inventor and researcher. He was introduced in 1971 and has invented different devices throughout McDonaldland like the Psychedelic Electronic Hamburger Machine (which made only pumpkins for some reason), 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.
A blue Fry Kid is seen sitting on a McDonald's sign in Greenfield, Wisconsin.
  • Fry Kids (various voices in the commercials, Kath Soucie, Paul Greenberg and Nika Futterman in The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald) – 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.
  • Bernice (performed by Tim Blaney and Tony Urbano) – 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.
  • Iam Hungry (voiced by Jeff Lupetin[5]) – 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 is 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 alternate reality where Frank Sinatra wasn't born to influence Kennedy's election, and as a result, Richard Nixon won the 1960 election and botched the Cuban Missile Crisis, causing World War III. When Brian asks, due to the circumstances, if Lee Harvey Oswald never shot Kennedy, Stewie replies, "No, he shot Mayor McCheese" as a cutaway shows him getting shot in the head during a motorcade; as the crowd gasps and screams, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis begins eating the hamburger meat splattered over the car. After the gag, Brian questions Stewie as to whether the joke was or was not in bad taste, Stewie replies, "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.

See also

References
  1. Bellomo, Mark (2016-10-04). "A Brief History of McDonaldland and the Toys (and Lawsuit) It Spawned". Mental Floss. Retrieved 2016-12-06.
  2. Weil, Roman L.; Frank, Peter B.; Hughes, Christian W.; Wagner, Michael J. (2007-01-02). Litigation Services Handbook: The Role of the Financial Expert. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 9780470052686.
  3. "Frank J. Delfino; Actor Played Hamburglar". Los Angeles Times. February 22, 1997.
  4. "Frank J. Delfino, Television's Hamburglar". San Jose Mercury News. February 23, 1997.
  5. McDonald's at Voice Chasers, vocal credits.
  6. Katie Lobosco, "McDonald's has a new Hamburglar", CNNMoney (May 7, 2015).
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