History Advertising / McDonaldland

* ArtEvolution: The designs started off being heavily inspired by the Kroft Brothers. To fix this issue after they sued, the designs were handed off to lead puppet master Tony Urbano and reworked to look more friendly and remove as much of the original influence as possible once the 80s rolled around.

** ''The Adventures of Ronald [=McDonald=]: [=McDonaldland=] Treasure Island'' is an animated film from 1989 produced by Creator/DicEntertainment.

** Grimace's name made sense when he was a villain. It is an IronicName when he was retooled into a GentleGiant.

* TheBusCameBack: While the [=McDonaldland=] concept hasn't been revisited since 2003, beginning in the 2010s and 2020s decade, some of the [=McDonald Land=] characters (notably Grimace and The Hamburglar) has slowly started resurfacing back to the spotlight. Between 2013 and 2014, there were two live stage shows (''Ronald [=McDonald=] & Friends Friendship Adventure Show'' and ''Musical Show of Ronald [=McDonald=]'' respectively) starring Ronald, Birdie, Grimace, and Hamburglar together performed at a few countries across America. Occasionally Grimace or The Hamburglar would make rare live appearances at some local [=McDonald=] restaurants for special events, some of their official social media account (such as [=McDonalds=] official [=TikTok=]) posts, and sometimes appear during ''UsefulNotes/MacysThanksgivingDayParade'' beginning in 2020. Grimace's most recent appearance was in a 2022 UsefulNotes/SuperBowl [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv5CzJdx6NE commercial]] where he was voiced by Creator/RyanReynolds.

** The very first commercials featuring Ronald [=McDonald=] (which predated [=McDonaldland=] by eight years) depicted Ronald with brownish hair in addition to having a costume solely of yellow and red stripes, white gloves and a styrofoam cup over his nose.

* CatchPhrase: The Hamburglar's was "Robble Robble!"

In the early 2000s, [=McDonaldland=] was starting to phased away. [=McDonald's=] switched to the "I'm Lovin' It" campaign and did away with its cartoony characters. The sole exception was Ronald [=McDonald=], who continued to be their iconic mascot until he was replaced with a [[Franchise/DespicableMe Minion]]-esque anthropomorphic Happy Meal box named "Happy" in 2014 (and even then, Ronald hasn't been completely phased out). In 2015, the Hamburglar was temporarily brought back to advertise a new menu item.

** Commercials for the Happy Birthday Happy Meal from 1994 feature a live-action Ronald and a puppet Happy Meal box interacting with [[{{Crossover}} various animated characters]], including VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog, Franchise/{{Barbie}}, [[Literature/TheBerenstainBears Brother and Sister Bear]], [[WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies1984 Baby Kermit and Baby Miss Piggy]], [[WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures Babs and Buster Bunny]], [[ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}} Snoopy]], and [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck]].

* MoreCriminalsThanTargets: When the ad campaign began in 1971, the only residents of [=McDonaldland=] shown were Ronald, Mayor [=McCheese=], Big Mac (a hamburger-headed cop), The Hamburglar (who stole hamburgers), The Evil Grimace (who stole milkshakes and soft drinks), Captain Crook (a pirate who stole Filet-O-Fishes), and The Goblins (who stole french fries). Thus, more than half the population were thieves. Eventually, Grimace lost a couple of his arms and the "Evil" part of his name and [[HeelFaceTurn became a good guy]], Captain Crook reformed and was gradually phased out, and the Goblins became the harmless French Fry Guys leaving The Hamburgler as [=McDonaldland's=] only remaining habitual criminal.

* MoreCriminalsThanTargets: When the ad campaign began in 1971, the only residents of [=McDonaldland=] shown were Ronald, Mayor [=McCheese=], Big Mac (a hamburger-headed cop), The Hamburgler (who stole hamburgers), The Evil Grimace (who stole milkshakes and soft drinks), Captain Crook (a pirate who stole Filet-O-Fishes), and The Goblins (who stole french fries). Thus, more than half the population were thieves. Eventually, Grimace lost a couple of his arms and the "Evil" part of his name and [[HeelFaceTurn became a good guy]], Captain Crook reformed and was gradually phased out, and the Goblins became the harmless French Fry Guys leaving The Hamburgler as [=McDonaldland's=] only remaining habitual criminal.

* HarmlessVillain: Pretty much ''any'' villain who menaced [=McDonaldland=] was easily fooled and outsmarted by Ronald and his child friends; Captain Crook, the Goblins, and the Hamburglar started off this way, before mellowing and becoming cuter and even ''more'' harmless. Even Grimmace was one before he was changed to a nicer character.

* TheBusCameBack: While the [=McDonaldland=] concept hasn't been revisited since 2003. Beginning in the 2010s and 2020s decade, some of the [=McDonald Land=] characters (notably Grimace and The Hamburgler) has slowly started resurfacing back to the spotlight. Between 2013 and 2014, there were two live stage shows (''Ronald [=McDonald=] & Friends Friendship Adventure Show'' and ''Musical Show of Ronald [=McDonald=]'' respectively) starring Ronald, Birdie, Grimace, and Hamburgler together performed at a few countries across America. Occasionally Grimace or The Hamburgler would make rare live appearances at some local [=McDonald=] restaurants for special events, some of their official social media account (such as [=McDonalds=] official [=TikTok=]) posts, and sometimes appear during ''UsefulNotes/MacysThanksgivingDayParade'' beginning in 2020. Grimace's most recent appearance was in a 2022 UsefulNotes/SuperBowl [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv5CzJdx6NE commercial]] where he was voiced by Creator/RyanReynolds.

** ''WesternAnimation/TheWackyAdventuresOfRonaldMcdonald'' is a series of 1990s direct-to-video cartoons that could be received when going to [=McDonalds=].

In the early 2000s, [=McDonaldland=] was finally phased away. [=McDonald's=] switched to the "I'm Lovin' It" campaign and did away with its cartoony characters. The sole exception was Ronald [=McDonald=], who continued to be their iconic mascot until he was replaced with a [[Franchise/DespicableMe Minion]]-esque anthropomorphic Happy Meal box named "Happy" in 2014 (and even then, Ronald hasn't been completely phased out). In 2015, the Hamburglar was temporarily brought back to advertise a new menu item.

** Commercials for the Happy Birthday Happy Meal from 1994 feature a live-action Ronald interacting with [[{{Crossover}} various animated characters]], including VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog, Franchise/{{Barbie}}, [[Literature/TheBerenstainBears Brother and Sister Bear]], [[WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies1984 Baby Kermit and Baby Miss Piggy]], and [[WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures Babs and Buster Bunny]].

In the early 2000s, [=McDonaldland=] was finally phased away. [=McDonald's=] switched to the "I'm Lovin' It" campaign and did away with its cartoony characters. The sole exception was Ronald [=McDonald=], who continued to be their iconic mascot until he was replaced with a [[WesternAnimation/DespicableMe Minion]]-esque anthropomorphic Happy Meal box named "Happy" in 2014 (and even then, Ronald hasn't been completely phased out). In 2015, the Hamburglar was temporarily brought back to advertise a new menu item.

* TrademarkFavoriteFood:
** The Hamburglar has [=McDonald's=] burgers.
** The Grimace has [=McDonald's=] shakes.
** The Fry-guys. Guess what theirs is.
** Birdie represents the breakfast (i.e., until 10:30 AM) meals.

** Birdie the Early Bird in her earliest commercials had a pointier beak and longer pigtails, plus her eyelashes were thicker and her overalls were a lighter shade of pink and had an image of a smiling sun above the [=McDonald=]'s M.

%%* SwiperNoSwiping: Sometimes, the Hamburglar succumbs to this.

** Birdie the Early Bird in her earliest commercials had a pointier beak and longer pigtails, plus her overalls were a lighter shade of pink and had an image of a smiling sun above the [=McDonald=]'s M.

* BornAsAnAdult: The commercial introducing Birdie the Early Bird shows her hatching from her egg fully grown and able to speak fluently.

* FeatherFingers: Birdie.

* MoreCriminalsThanTargets: When the ad campaign began in 1971, the only residents of [=McDonaldland=] shown were Ronald, Mayor [=McCheese=], Big Mac (a hamburger-headed cop), The Hamburgler (who stole hamburgers), The Evil Grimace (who stole milkshakes and soft drinks), Captain Crook (a pirate who stole Filet-O-Fishes), and The Goblins (who stole french fries). Thus, more than half the population were thieves. Eventually, Grimace lost a couple of his arms and the "Evil" part of his name and [[HeelFaceTurn became a good guy]], Captain Crook reformed and was gradually phased out, and the Goblins became the harmless French Fry Guys leaving only The Hamburgler as [=McDonaldland's=] only remaining habitual criminal.