McDonaldland is a McDonald's media franchise and the fictional fantasy world inhabited by Ronald McDonald and his friends. Starting with the creation of Ronald McDonald in 1963, it is primarily developed and published by McDonald's. Initial attempts to expand the McDonaldland universe by marketing agency Needham, Harper & Steers were seemingly retconned due to legal issues, but ongoing aspects were expanded in McDonald's projects in collaboration with Data East, Virgin Interactive, Treasure, SEGA, and Klasky Csupo.

The series centers on an adventuring magical clown named Ronald McDonald, who has red hair, white and red face paint, and wears a yellow jumpsuit over a red and white striped long-sleeve shirt with yellow gloves. His most regularly occurring friends are Grimace, the Hamburglar, Birdie the Early Bird, the Fry Kids, the McNugget Buddies, and the Happy Meal Gang. The fictional world has a variety of inspirations from general high fantasy and low fantasy, to corporate culture and corporate personality, to more specific influences including the artwork of Koichi Kimura from McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure.

In addition to being used in advertising, the characters were used as the basis for themed equipment in the "PlayPlaces" attached to some McDonald's outlets, small recreational activity rooms intended for young children. While the McDonaldland portion has received somewhat less attention since 2003, several of the characters including Ronald McDonald, Grimace, Birdie the Early Bird, and the Hamburglar are still seen in commercials, Happy Meal toys, and materials supporting the Ronald McDonald House Charities. The characters received entire dedicated McDonaldland themed line-ups of Funko Pop! figures in 2019 and onward, including Ronald, Grimace, the Hamburglar, the Fry Kids and McNugget Buddies, Birdie the Early Bird, Mayor McCheese and Officer Big Mac.

Overview

Setting

McDonaldland takes place predominantly in its own high fantasy world, though parts of the McDonaldland world have low fantasy interactions with the real world. In earlier commercials, McDonaldland had sentient trees that grew apple pies, a hamburger patch, a French Fry patch, a shake volcano, Filet-O-Fish Lake, and the one-shot Sundae Mountain.

In The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald the denizens of McDonaldland were shown to be able to travel between worlds using PlayPlace slides. Ronald is an adventurer with magical powers that acts as an ambassador for good and freedom, such as traveling to the rain forest to bring attention to endangered species and deforestation or delivering a safety PSA on the importance of seat belts.

Redemption arcs are incorporated within McDonaldland media. Grimace, a purple monster, was originally an antagonist that stole beverages and shakes from customers, but has since become a good guy. The Hamburglar, also originally a villain, was a thief that targeted hamburgers and sandwiches, but he is now more of a lovable rogue character.

Locations

The most often occurring regions, as seen in numerous McDonaldland commercials and video games are a forest, town, sea, and outer space. Their exact geographic layout is unknown, but within these regions are several locales including Grimace Island, a Western-themed area, several portals to real world McDonald's restaurants, the Moon, and Ronald's home.

History

The namesake for McDonaldLand is the McDonald's restaurants founded by Richard and Maurice McDonald, popularized by Ray Kroc. Ronald McDonald was originally portrayed by Willard Scott, a former Bozo the Clown actor. In 1963, he and Washington, D.C. franchisee Oscar Goldstein created the initial aspects of the character. The initial idea to expand the McDonaldland universe was outsourced to 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.

In 1973, Sid and Marty Krofft sued McDonald's, claiming that the entire McDonaldland premise plagiarized their television show H.R. Pufnstuf. In Sid & Marty Krofft Television Productions Inc. v. McDonald's Corp., the Kroffts also claimed that the character Mayor McCheese was an infringement on their copyrighted character H.R. Pufnstuf (a mayor himself); Pufnstuf's voice actor, Lennie Weinrib, was even involved with the McDonaldland ads, as the voice of Grimace. 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 a 1977 decision, reassessed damages in favor of the Kroffts to more than $1,000,000. As a result, McDonald's was ordered to stop producing some of the characters, or they must be modified to become legally distinct, and to stop airing commercials featuring those characters until then. Grimace had a non-speaking appearance in an advertisement for Monsters vs. Aliens Happy Meal toys, and also made a cameo in the 2022 McDonald's Super Bowl LVI commercial with Kanye West, where Grimace is animated and voiced by Ryan Reynolds.

Funko designed several ongoing Pop! Vinyl! figures starting in 2019 representing numerous McDonaldland characters including a line dedicated to The McNugget Buddies, as well as some characters thought to be retconned like Mayor McCheese & Officer Big Mac.

On August 5, 2025, the McDonaldland franchise and most of its characters, including Ronald McDonald, would be brought back by McDonald's in a new commercial to promote a new meal after nearly two decades since its last appearance, officially launching one week later on August 12. McDonald's created a new website to promote the franchise as well.

Characters

Ronald McDonald

Ronald McDonald is 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.

Hamburglar

The Hamburglar (performed by Frank Delfino from 1971–1992, Jerry Maren in some commercials, Tommy Vicini from 1992–2003, voiced by Larry Storch from 1971–1986, Charlie Adler in "The Hamburglar Touch" commercial and in The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald, Howard Morris from 1986–2003, and Carl W. Wolfe in some commercials during the 1990s) – A pint-sized burglar who was introduced in 1971 as one of the first antagonists of the commercials where he often attempts to steal hamburgers and cheeseburgers from Ronald. He was often referred to in his first commercial appearances as "the crafty old Hamburglar" and at least one ad promoting McDonald's breakfast menu as "The Lone Jogger", wearing a white T-shirt displaying that name on the front. Originally, the Hamburglar spoke in a gibberish language of "robble robble" which had to be translated by Captain Crook. He was reintroduced in 1985 as one of the main protagonists, with a radically friendlier appearance, where he spoke in normal sentences (but still peppered with "robble"), but retained his penchant for trying to steal burgers. In 2015, McDonald's brought back the Hamburglar as part of the promotion of a new sirloin burger.

Grimace

Grimace (performed by Patty Saunders from 1971–1983, Mauri Bernstein in some 1980s commercials, Terry Castillo-Faass from 1983–2000, voiced by Lennie Weinrib from 1971–1986, Frank Welker and sometimes Larry Moran from 1986–2003, A 2014 Tweet from the McDonald's Twitter account stated "Grimace lore says he is the embodiment of a milkshake or a taste bud." In 2021, Brian Bates, a franchisee in Canada, stated in an interview widely reported on in the press that Grimace is an anthropomorphic taste bud. Writing in The Takeout, Lillian Stone disputed this, pointing out other material that established that Grimace was part of a species of Grimaces, including his Uncle O'Grimacey who promoted the Shamrock Shake. To celebrate the 51 year anniversary of the character's inception, in 2023, McDonalds ran a promotion to celebrate Grimace's birthday with the release of the Grimace Shake, which became an Internet meme on social media platforms. On June 12, 2024, Grimace threw the ceremonial first pitch at a New York Mets game, who were struggling at the time. After his appearance, the Mets went on a seven game winning streak and Grimace was embraced by the team's fans. In September 2024, the Mets unveiled a purple seat at Citi Field, their home ballpark, to honor Grimace's connection with the team and its fans. Grimace rode a 7 subway train branded with imagery featuring the character to Citi Field just before Game 3 of the 2024 National League Division Series between the Mets and the Philadelphia Phillies.

Fry Kids

thumb|A blue Fry Kid is seen sitting on a McDonald's sign in [[Greenfield, Wisconsin.]]

Introduced in 1972 as "Gobblins", the Fry Kids (various voices in the commercials, Kath Soucie, Paul Greenberg and Nika Futterman in The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald) are small, shaggy, ball-like creatures with legs and no arms who try to steal other characters' French fries; they include both male Fry Guys and female Fry Girls. In 1998, Fry Kid #1 is yellow, Fry Kid #2 is red, and Fry Kid #3 is blue.

On the McDonaldland website, they were called the "Fry Friends".

Birdie the Early Bird

Birdie the Early Bird (performed by Felix Silla 1979–1986, Patty Maloney 1986–2001, voiced by Russi Taylor in the commercials, The character was used as an inspiration for the spin-off restaurant CosMc's.

Bernie

Bernice (performed by Tim Blaney and Tony Urbano) is 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

Sundae (performed by Verne Troyer, voiced by Dee Bradley Baker) – Ronald's dog who has appeared only in The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald where he was animated with puppetry. The animatronic Sundae was created by Optic Nerve Studios, Inc. Troyer was assisted in performing Sundae by puppeteers Mark Garbarino, Bryan Blair, Russell Shinkle and Shaun Smith. One commercial involving Ronald using the McDonald's sign as a pogo stick depicted Sundae as an actual dog.

Iam Hungry

Iam Hungry (voiced by Jeff Lupetin) – A scientist who is McDonaldland's inventor and researcher. He was introduced in 1971 and has invented different devices throughout McDonaldland such as 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 appearances, he was a bespectacled man with a beard, neck-length hair, and a hat. 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.

New characters

Some McDonaldland characters were introduced in 2009 and the McDonaldland Resurgence in August 12, 2025.

Happy

Happy is an anthropomorphic Happy Meal box introduced in 2009, he is the current mascot of McDonald's, replacing Ronald McDonald. His features include his boxy red body, a wide smile, human-like teeth and eyes, and flexible slender arms and legs. He has been shown to live in "Happy City", along with others who look like him. During promotional campaigns, he has interacted with popular characters such as the Minions and Super Mario, among others.

Aunt Millie and Aunt Tillie

Aunt Millie and Aunt Tillie were introduced in the McDonaldland Resurgence as the doting aunts of Grimace. They are depicted as McDonaldland's favorite visitors.

In other media

  • Ronald McDonald appears during a child's birthday party at a McDonald's in one scene of the 1988 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.
  • Clerks: The Animated Series featured the fictional mayor and chief of police of Leonardo, New Jersey wearing costumes based on Mayor McCheese and Office Big Mac, respectively (both had been going to costume parties when the episode's plot, a deadly virus supposedly being released into Leonardo, occurred, and in the case of the mayor he was unable to remove his costume when the zipper got stuck). Steve-Dave and Walt asked "Big Mac" if "this administration will ever bring the Hamburglar to justice", while a reporter inquires as to whether or not Grimace is immune to the virus ("Nothing can kill the Grimace"). "Mayor McCheese" was voiced by Al Franken while "Officer Big Mac" is voiced by Mike McShane. On the DVD commentary, Kevin Smith indicated that had the show gone past 6 episodes, "Mayor McCheese" would've been kept as a recurring character (with him always in his costume, always being on his way to or from a costume party).
  • In Carlton Mellick III's Bizarro fiction books Warrior Wolf Women of the Wasteland and its sequel Barbarian Beast Bitches of the Badlands, set in a post-apocalyptic world, McDonaldland is the last remaining city-state, governed by fascist The Blessed McDonald's Corporation and completely themed around McDonald's (e.g., all buildings are red and yellow). Every day, its inhabitants pray five times, work two shifts, and eat three meals of its fast-food – which, due to containing abundant chemicals, mutates men into eventually growing extra limbs (who upon discovery are seized by Fry Guys police officers) and women into becoming increasingly wolf-like each time they have sex (and then being banished into the outer Wastelands to fight for their own survival); any other food or beverage is outlawed. Once cherished McDonaldland characters such as Mayor McCheese and the Hamburglar are reimagined in horrifically twisted versions.

See also

  • Mac Tonight
  • Burger King Kingdom – Burger King's answer to McDonaldland.
  • Fast food advertising

References

  • Official McDonaldland website