Ronald McDonald is the primary mascot for McDonalds restaurants. He is a clown who inhabits McDonaldland with his friends Grimace, Birdie the Early Bird, Hamburglar, Mayor McCheese, and the Fry Kids, among many others. He is one of the most famous mascots in the world and thus is what comes to mind when most people think of the restaurant.
History[]
He first appeared in 1963, played by Willard Scott, who also created the character and played Bozo the Clown from 1959-1962. The show Bozo's Circus was cancelled in 1962 by WRC-TV but when it was still airing Willard would appear as Bozo at McDonald's restaurants in Washington DC so when the show was cancelled, he could no longer appear. Hence, Washington DC McDonald's asked him to create a new clown character to drive sales and Ronald was born. He was called "Ronald the Hamburger Happy Clown" in his first three ads. He appeared very bizarrely, in a red and yellow suit, typical clown makeup, white gloves but he also had a cup on his nose, scarecrow-like hair, and a tray of McDonald's food on his head and waist. He also had magical abilities such as making food appear from his magic tray. These magic abilities would stay with the character in the long run.
Ronald first appeared on national TV in 1965 during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, followed by spots during the 1965 NFL Championship Game. In 1966, circus performer Michael Polakovs (Coco the Clown) was hired to revamp Ronald's image, this is where Ronald got his makeover, now appearing as we know him today. Michael played Ronald until 1968, being replaced by Ray Rayner, who was later replaced by dozens of other actors as time went on.
His new look in 1965, while certainly lasting, would go on to have a few minor changes throughout the years. Starting in the mid-70s, some of these changes included his hair (which was previously groomed) becoming more puffed out and slicked back, his french-fry pockets becoming rectangular instead of square and his sleeves shortened to half-length on his forearms. In 1998 when The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald was released, he appeared in the show with another new look for his jumpsuit. The french-fry pockets on his suit were now removed, and the pocket that used to be at the top was now replaced with a red circle with the Golden Arches "M" on it, and he was given very thin rectangular red seamed pockets instead. His sleeves were now longer and the stripes on them were thicker, and he now had his name on the back of his suit. After the show was long gone, the new design was retained, minus his name on the back of his suit. In 2014, he was given yet another makeover, now wearing yellow cargo pants, a red vest, and a red and white striped rugby shirt, the only thing that remained was his classic clown shoes.
Commercials[]
Ronald's commercials mostly consisted of his antics in McDonaldland with his aforementioned friends Birdie, Grimace, Hamburglar, and others, some of who were removed from commercials later on. The former characters include Mayor McCheese, Officer Big Mac, Captain Crook, and The Professor. The first McDonaldland commercial aired in 1971, featuring Ronald leading two kids through McDonaldland, a mystical fairy-tale-like location with living trees, milkshake volcanoes, and a French fry thatch, all the while an upbeat bubble-gum style tune plays with a voiceover singing about all the fun things you'll see when visiting there. Many later commercials featured the same upbeat bubble-gum style tune but with a narrator narrating a story where Ronald foils the plan of one of the villains such as Hamburglar, Captain Crook, or Grimace, who was depicted as a villain at the time. In 1973, the creators of the show H.R. Pufnstuf, Sid & Marty Kroft, sued McDonald's with the claim that they had plagiarized the show with the McDonaldland premise, also claiming that Mayor McCheese infringed on the copyright of the character H.R. Pufnstuf who was a mayor himself. Pufnstuf's voice actor, Lennie Weinrib, was also involved with the McDonaldland ads, voicing Grimace. The jury voted in favour of the Krofts 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 Krofts to more than $1,000,000. As a result, some McDonaldland characters had to be removed or modified to be legally distinct. From then on McDonaldland commercials were shown in a more realistic world where the characters interacted with real-life people, while still taking place in McDonaldland.
Merchandise[]
Ronald McDonald has received numerous merchandise over the years, just mentioning everything would take up possibly more than two pages. Some of them include toys, dolls, books, games, watches, magazines, pencil sharpeners, cookie jars, hand puppets, and piggy banks. He also received a direct-to-video series The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald, produced by Klasky Csupo, as well as an eight-minute animated short back in 1987 that was played at McDonald's birthday parties and a 40-minute movie in 1990 titled The Adventures of Ronald McDonald: McTreasure Island.
Trivia[]
- Ronald appears in the 1988 critically panned box office failure Mac and Me, played by Squire Fridell who was awarded a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst New Star. He also made a guest appearance in the VHS Kids for Character in 1996.
- Ronald is known as "Donald McDonald" (ドナルド・マクドナルド, Donarudo Makudonarudo) in Japan because of a lack of a clear "r" sound in Japanese enunciation.
- In Thailand, Ronald greets people in the traditional Thai wai greeting by pressing his two hands together.
- Ronald is referred to as "Uncle McDonald" ( 麦当劳叔叔; Màidāngláo Shūshu) by Chinese children, out of respect for him being an adult.
- An actor named Joe Maggard claimed to have performed Ronald from 1995-1997 but it was later revealed in a 2003 article by The Baltimore Sun that he was simply a stand-in for one commercial shoot in the 90s.