All About McDonaldland

McDonaldland is the marketing fantasy world created for McDonalds TV ads. This world was introduced in 1971 around Ronald McDonald, their clown character created in 1963 by Willard Scott of NBC Today Show fame.

Sid and Marty Krofft

The visual style of McDonaldland was inspired by the work of Sid and Marty Krofft, creators of children's TV puppet series, "H.R. Pufnstuf." The Krofft brothers had been hired as special advisors by McDonald's then ad agency that never paid the Kroffts for their services. The brothers successfully sued the fast food chain.

McDonaldland Characters

Notable McDonaldland characters besides Ronald McDonald include The Hamburglar and Mayor McCheese. The most controversial character was Grimace, a menacing milkshake thief with four arms. He was then softened into a friendly purple Barney-like character, Ronald McDonald's best buddy. Most of the voices of these early McDonaldland characters were done by Howard Morris, best known as the Ernest T. Bass character on The Andy Griffith Show.

McDonaldland characters are also portrayed as part of the playground equipment at certain McDonald restaurants.

The Happy Meal

McDonaldland characters also played a part of McDonald's Happy Meal history. When it was introduced in 1979, the Happy Meal was a small box containing a hamburger, fries, and a toy, which was often an eraser with a McDonaldland character on it.

The McDonaldland Movie

In 1998 Klasky Csupo, the animation studio that created "Rugrats", produced a direct-to-video six episode cartoon series called "The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald." Despite music by DEVO's Mark Mothersbaugh, the series only lasted those six episodes.