McDonaldland was a fantasy world, inhabited by Ronald McDonald and other characters, which was formerly used in marketing for McDonald's. In addition to being used in advertising, the characters were used as the basis for equipment in the playgrounds attached to some McDonald's.In the commercials, the various beings are played by puppets or costumed performers, very similar to those used in the popular H.R. Pufnstuf program.
In 1973, the Kroffts successfully sued McDonald's, arguing that the entire McDonaldland premise was essentially a ripoff of their television show.
In recent years, the McDonaldland premise has largely been phased out of advertising campaigns, with modern commercials usually just depicting Ronald alone in "real world" situations with real children.
Poll Results
| Option | Votes |
| Grimace. Grimace is an anthropomorphic purple being. | 26 |
| The Hamburglar was a thief whose primary object of theft was hamburgers. | 19 |
| Mayor McCheese has an enormous cheeseburger for a head | 11 |
| Officer Big Mac was the chief of police | 2 |
| Uncle O'Grimacey was created in celebration of Saint Patrick's Day | 1 |
| Iam Hungry was a short-lived McDonaldland character | 1 |
| The Hamburger Patch is where hamburgers "grew" like fruit on plants | 1 |
| Captain Crook was a pirate similar in appearance to Captain Hook | 1 |
| Fry Kids are characters used to promote McDonald's french fries | 1 |
| Birdie the Early Bird was the first identifiably female character | 0 |
| CosMc was a temporary character from McDonaldland | 0 |
| The Happy Meal Gang (Cheeseburger,soft drink,and fries,all regular size) | 0 |
| The Professor, a mad scientist type character in a lab coat | 0 |
| Ronald McDonald, the primary icon of McDonald's characters | 0 |
― velko, Wednesday, 18 March 2009 03:25 (sixteen years ago)