Somewhere over the french fries, there used to be McDonaldland — a colorful world of funny friends and fast food. But why did these lovable characters seem to come and go so quickly?
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00:00Somewhere over the french fries, there used to be McDonaldland, a colorful world of funny
00:05friends and fast food. But why did these lovable characters seem to come and go so quickly?
00:10McDonald's first contracted the advertising agency Needham, Harper & Steers to create
00:15the McDonaldland campaign in 1970. The agency contacted Marty Kroft of Sid and Marty Kroft
00:20Productions. The Krofts were renowned for years as puppeteers for stars like Dean Martin
00:25and Judy Garland. They also created the costumes for Hanna-Barbera's hit Saturday morning TV
00:30series The Banana Splits.
00:32This led to their own string of memorable, fantastical, outrageous live-action children's
00:37shows in the 70s.
00:38The Saturday morning successes included Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, Land of the Lost, The
00:43Bugaloos, Lidsville, and their most iconic fantasy series, H.R. Puffinstuff. The Kroft
00:48creatives met with the McDonald's ad people several times, but months later, the ad agency
00:53announced that the Kroft team's art and engineering plans had been canceled for the McDonald's
00:57campaign.
00:58In a treacherous move right out of a Mad Men episode, the advertising agency launched the
01:02first McDonaldland TV commercials in 1971 without the Krofts. They even hired former
01:08Kroft employees to produce them. The Krofts took the case to court, alleging copyright
01:13infringement.
01:14What stung most was the overall similarity to the Krofts' iconic H.R. Puffinstuff series.
01:19In particular, there was a character named Mayor McCheese with a giant cheeseburger head
01:23and a voice impersonating comedian Ed Wynn. He was almost a twin of the signature Kroft
01:28character H.R. Puffinstuff, the mayor of Living Island, a magical place like McDonaldland.
01:33Now, see here, my good woman, I'm the mayor, and —
01:36Stand back, you overgrown salamander! You're in my power!
01:40Mayor McCheese had a cheeseburger on his shoulders instead of a dragon head, but the resemblance
01:44was crystal clear. The infringement proved so evident that the relatively small Kroft
01:49company defeated the mighty McDonald's corporation in court. Not only did the Krofts win the
01:53case, but Mayor McCheese was escorted out of McDonaldland.
01:58McDonaldland's most notorious lawbreaker was known as the Hamburglar. He had a pale, pasty
02:03face, two teeth, and a large nose. As his name suggests, he steals fast food from the
02:08other McDonaldland citizens. When the Hamburglar was introduced in the 70s, he spoke in nonsensical
02:13gibberish.
02:14This is a train robbery?
02:18This was simplified into the more familiar, Robble-Robble. McDonald soon softened the
02:23character. By the 1980s, he was given a rounder, more boyish face and became more of a rascal
02:28than a robber. The more cartoonish convict was one of the most familiar to TV viewers
02:32of the late 20th century. He was sent back to lockup in 2002.
02:36In 2015, the Hamburglar was paroled, but in a highly bizarre fashion. He figured prominently
02:41in a McDonald's wannabe viral marketing campaign called Robble-Robble. A young male actor played
02:46a dad with a secret life as the Hamburglar. He flees the suburbs, donning an outfit of
02:51trendy-looking designer stripes, a cool trench coat, the trademark eye mask, and gloves of
02:56his alter ego.
02:57The mysterious fellow then turned wisecracking McDonald's patron, sending messages on his
03:02wacky travels. McDonald's hoped that the social media world would follow. Their idea that
03:06a character created for selling fast food to kids could be rebooted as a sly, stylish
03:11adult didn't make the grade. The Hamburglar found himself once again booked at the Graybar
03:16Hotel.
03:17The Hamburglar managed to outlast one of his crafty colleagues in crime, Captain Crook.
03:22According to the McDonaldland Specification Manual, Captain Crook was part of this earliest
03:26round of characters. Being a seafaring soul, Captain Crook pursued a certain deep-fried
03:31golden treasure from under the sea — the McDonald's Filet-O-Fish sandwich. The crusty
03:36captain's greed was such that he also coveted land-based fast food stuffs.
03:40Give me some of those McDonald's pineapple pies!
03:44Captain Crook's image was reformed from a less-threatening baddie into a buffoon who
03:48always failed, known simply as the Captain.
03:51Soon, McDonaldland began to get overpopulated with characters, and McDonald's found that
03:55the Filet-O-Fish was more appealing to adults. By the 1980s, the Captain formerly known as
04:00Crook told no more tales.
04:02Officer Big Mac, the living embodiment of McDonald's signature sandwich, also found
04:06his job eliminated in the 1980s. His head looked as if it were made of two gigantic
04:11all-beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, and onions on a sesame seed
04:16bun.
04:17Officer Big Mac maintained law and order in McDonaldland, but let's face it — Captain
04:21Crook and the Hamburglar weren't much of a challenge. After both Officer Big Mac and
04:25Captain Crook were downsized from McDonaldland ads, Ronald McDonald dealt more directly with
04:30the Hamburglar, McDonaldland's sole remaining villain.
04:34Many of the McDonaldland characters celebrated a particular menu item and looked like them
04:38as well, like Officer Big Mac or the McNugget Buddies. However, Grimace was an exception.
04:43He just looked as if he had overindulged in fast food himself. This lumpy glob of purple
04:47originally had an unquenchable thirst for McDonald's shakes. Because of this despicable
04:52behavior, this creature was named the Evil Grimace.
04:55According to McDonald's manager Brian Bates, company lore tells that the Grimace is supposed
05:00to look like a giant taste bud. Be that as it may, Grimace was another character who
05:04went from naughty to nice. Early commercials feature a much more dystopian McDonaldland,
05:09where Grimace is stealing shakes, the Hamburglar is grabbing burgers, and Captain Crook is
05:14hooking fish sandwiches.
05:15Fortunately, Ronald's mcNoir period didn't last long. Grimace's character was revamped
05:20and he got a makeover. He originally had four arms, presumably to hold more shakes. The
05:25kinder, gentler Grimace only needed two. He changed from a greedy fiend to a good-natured
05:30friend. Grimace's name didn't really fit anymore, but almost everyone in McDonaldland had become
05:34far too happy to be concerned about it.
05:37Beyond the enduring and most familiar core cast of lovable characters that always seemed
05:41to end up at a McDonald's restaurant, the McDonaldland landscape occasionally introduced
05:45new friends. Some of them served to create new plots for commercials, while others were
05:49tied to food items. Some of these McDonaldland citizens became long-running members of the
05:54commercial series. Others did not prove as effective or popular movers of McDonald's
05:59So they were sent wherever commercial mascots go. In 1980, the first female character was
06:04added to the McDonaldland cast, Bertie the Early Bird. She was dressed like an old-fashioned
06:09aviator in a flight cap with field glasses and a scarf.
06:12Bertie's appearance helped McDonald's promote breakfast items to kids, which were new at
06:16the time. Bertie was an active part of McDonald's commercials for years. She became one of the
06:21main characters, comparable to the Hamburglar and Grimace.
06:24Bertie's popularity continued beyond her need to promote breakfast. She kept on flying
06:29as long as there was a McDonaldland. The same could not be said for two other characters.
06:34Sunday was Ronald McDonald's pet dog, created in conjunction with McDonald's ice cream sundae
06:38desserts. The professor was not attached to any specific product. He was just a wacky
06:42inventor who occasionally propelled the action in various ads. Sadly, he could not invent
06:47a way to keep himself or Sunday in front of the cameras.
06:51Film has not been kind to clowns. Over the last century, depictions of clowns in fiction
06:56and film have altered the perception of clowns from kitty-friendly pals to horror movie killers.
07:02According to a 2014 Rasmussen poll, 43 percent of Americans feel an aversion toward clowns.
07:08That same year, a homicidal clown named Twisty figured prominently in the American Horror
07:13Story anthology series, and in 2016, the U.S. was struck with a rash of ominous clown sightings.
07:19The success of Stephen King's It as a bestseller and several films depicted a clown as especially
07:24dangerous to a small child. The horror clown phenomenon got so bad that McDonald's scaled
07:30back on appearances by Ronald McDonald until the controversy died down. He was a clown,
07:35after all, and at that time, Americans didn't want to see one.
07:38I tried to warn you, people hate clowns now, and the advertisers want to meet with you."
07:45As the host of a fictional children's TV show, as well as the figurehead for his fictional
07:49chain of fast food outlets, Krusty the Clown of The Simpsons is a bit of a throwback.
07:53He recalls a time when circus clowns were beloved children's characters on TV. Clowns
07:58were once a welcome presence on TV shows, in cartoons, and hawking McDonald's fast food.
08:03One of the most popular clowns in post-war America before Ronald McDonald was Bozo the
08:07Clown. He was a big hit on records before being a TV favorite for decades. Bozo was
08:12part of a national franchise, allowing cities to have a Bozo at local stations so kids could
08:17be on the live broadcasts. Seldom, if ever, was Bozo an object of terror. Children of
08:22today have little or no knowledge of yesterday's popular personalities like Bozo or Emmett Kelly.
08:28The fictional clowns of 21st century pop culture are almost always frightening.
08:32In the American mainstream, clowns have been rendered passé at best and terrifying at
08:37worst.
08:38I wish that scary-looking clown at the end of my bed would go away.
08:46Nevertheless, the McDonald's Corporation has returned Ronald McDonald to active status,
08:51believing he is an exception to the rule. As their official mascot and chief happiness officer,
08:56Ronald's presence has never been removed from Ronald McDonald House,
09:00an independent non-profit organization supported by the company since 1974.
09:05The character maintains a popular Instagram account,
09:07detailing his many public appearances to promote McDonald's and the charity.
09:11In the 2020s, the company has relied on marketing tactics like combo meals assembled
09:16by celebrities and hiring Succession star Brian Cox to narrate a series of ads.
09:21The hottest, juiciest quarter pounder yet. It's perfect. Made perfecter.
09:26In 1996, the Federal Communications Commission moved to more strictly enforce the 1990 Children's
09:32Television Act, a system of media regulatory laws that would require commercially-supported
09:36broadcast networks to program a minimum of three weekly hours of educational television
09:41geared toward young viewers. Many outlets opted to logically put those newly-mandated shows into
09:46their Saturday morning lineups, supplanting the traditional schedule of purely entertainment
09:51oriented cartoons.
09:52But you can still catch me and all my friends on NBC Saturday morning.
09:59We'll be watching for you, Alvin.
10:00The Children's Television Act also notably curtailed advertising,
10:04limiting ad space on Saturday morning TV to 10 and a half minutes per hour.
10:08That removed about six hourly minutes of advertising from that child-oriented time,
10:13meaning the companies that usually bought commercial time during that period — selling
10:17toys, cereals, or, in the case of McDonald's McDonaldland commercials, fast food hamburgers —
10:22suddenly had a whole lot less space to work with.
10:25All those new rules ultimately proved to be more trouble than they were worth for the networks.
10:29With NBC the first to eliminate cartoons in favor of teen-oriented sitcoms, news,
10:34and sports, all the major broadcast networks would eventually give up on animated fare
10:38on weekend mornings altogether, programming educational and informational shows about
10:42travel and animals. With the Saturday morning cartoon landscape receding,
10:46McDonald's lost one of its most crucial McDonaldland promotional haunts.
10:51McDonald's didn't just brand itself as a haven for kid-friendly food. The company
10:55promoted its restaurants as family-friendly places where children could also enjoy activities.
10:59Parents could relax and keep an eye on them without too much worry.
11:03To that end, McDonald's created Play Places, some of which resembled tiny theme parks.
11:07Play Places were found on the grounds of thousands of McDonald's outlets for kids to
11:11run around in. Smiling images of Ronald McDonald and his cohorts were emblazoned on artwork built
11:16into the structures themselves. The equipment was sometimes made in the image of McDonaldland
11:21characters, like the Officer Big Mac Climber and the Hamburglar Swing.
11:24By the mid-1990s, two standard play pieces were removed from Play Places.
11:29By 1999, it became clear why McDonald's got rid of the Big Mac Climber. Apparently,
11:35over the previous 20 years, hundreds of kids had sustained injuries while playing on,
11:39or falling off, the Big Mac Climber. Apparently,
11:42McDonald's had neglected to report those injuries to authorities.
11:45The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission fined McDonald's $4 million.
11:50It was the organization's largest punishment in history up to that point.
11:54In 2010, the number of families with kids going to McDonald's altogether declined,
11:59so Play Places fell into disuse and disrepair. Around that time,
12:03McDonald's embarked on a $6 billion nationwide location remodeling drive.
12:07In the process, many of the McDonaldland-oriented Play Places were eliminated.
12:12About 30 years after the launch of the McDonaldland campaign,
12:15some market research uncovered that the company had paid a price for its success.
12:19The McDonaldland campaign had worked far too well.
12:22Kids loved McDonald's so much that by the 21st century,
12:26McDonald's food was commonly thought of as food for kids, though all ages certainly enjoyed it
12:31as well. After so many years of developing the McDonaldland canon, characters, lore,
12:35history, and settings to appeal to children to make McDonald's seem like a wonderful,
12:40fantastical place to eat and spend money, it worked. However, their fast food competitors
12:45took note and began countermarketing. In the 1990s, Burger King, Wendy's,
12:49and Taco Bell found their niches by positioning themselves as destinations for budget-conscious
12:54adult eaters. More grown-up and upscale-style chains like Panera Bread took more of McDonald's
12:59market share. The Golden Arches started a long process of phasing out McDonaldland
13:04and its childhood image.
13:06"...and I have the best gift of all. Friends like you. Happy holidays from McDonald's."
13:12In the 2000s, McDonald's attempted a soft reboot, scaling back on opening new stores
13:17and launching a new focus on food quality. All of that meant less marketing to kids and
13:22promoting juvenile-skewing foods like Happy Meals and Chicken McNuggets. McDonald's sought
13:26to prove it was growing up, and so it downplayed the child-centric marketing involving cute clowns,
13:31food filters, and merry monsters.
13:34McDonald's decision to shift its focus away from its juvenile audience came around the
13:38same time it faced another lawsuit. Plaintiffs alleged that the fast food establishment,
13:43along with Burger King and others, was culpable in the rising levels of kids
13:47living at an unhealthy weight.
13:49"...beauty good boy, show mommy how the piggies eat."
13:55In August 2002, the families of two teenagers considered overweight by mainstream medical
14:00standards sued McDonald's. The company was charged with failing to properly tell the
14:04masses that its food was packed with considerable amounts of sugar, fat, and salt. They alleged
14:09that this led to their daughters' obesity-related health issues, including high blood pressure,
14:14high cholesterol, and heart disease.
14:15The plaintiff's attorney, Samuel Hirsch, told CNN,
14:18"...we are not looking to get rich from a large monetary settlement.
14:21We are proposing a fund that will educate children about the nutritional facts and
14:25contents of McDonald's food."
14:27A New York judge dismissed the suit, but McDonald's didn't emerge from the matter unscathed.
14:32The accusations put a spotlight on McDonald's food and business practices.
14:36This led many to consider that the company's offerings weren't the healthiest choices.
14:40It certainly would have been tough for McDonald's to continue marketing to kids
14:43in the same ways that it had been, with cheerful, food-celebrating characters in a magical land.
14:48Instead, McDonald's launched the Go Active campaign, emphasizing exercise and moderation.
14:54Since the McDonaldland characters were associated with the old food image in the old ways,
14:58they didn't factor into the Go Active concept. However,
15:01Ronald himself was involved in events with professional athletes.
15:05Monumental cultural shifts and changing business strategies led to phasing out
15:09the McDonaldland characters in McDonald's marketing plans. In 2003, after a poor
15:14sales period led to significant internal management changes, McDonald's launched
15:18the I'm Lovin' It campaign. It was conceived as a more hip and modern advertising approach.
15:23While it was addressed to potential customers of all ages,
15:26it was squarely based on fans of pop music stars. Slim, energetic Justin Timberlake was paid $6
15:31million to encourage his vast base of eager teens and young adults that he was indeed
15:36lovin' it. The McDonald's I'm Lovin' It campaign crawled to the top of McDonald's advertising
15:41concepts. It was one of the company's all-time most successful campaigns. It stomped out
15:46McDonaldland and its characters, at least for the time being. At this point, the McDonald's
15:50consumer base is much wider than when kids were the primary target. But you never know,
15:55Birdie and the gang just might fly again someday. The McDonaldland characters also
15:59made a fortune in merchandise and premiums. McDonald's could easily
16:03score millions again with their McUniverse of intellectual property.