The mascots and cartoon history of McDonald's

The Founder is a movie that tells the history of McDonald's, the biggest fast food restaurant company in the world.  While the story focuses on Ray Kroc and how he turned the McDonald Brother's restaurant into a full fledged franchise, there is another history on McDonald's that should be mentioned: their mascots over the years.  McDonald's mostly had one mascot that superseded all of them: Ronald McDonald, but McDonald's had more than one mascot over the years.  That is our story.

When McDonald's first started in the late 1940's, they used this character named Speedee.  He was a hamburger headed chief named after the idea that you can get your food quick and easy.  Burgers of course were the #1 thing to get at McDonald's (still are), so it was only natural to use a burger as a mascot.

When McDonald's began to be fully franchised, it was decided that the new logo should represent the golden arches.  The logo used at the time around 1962 was so not the same as the one we know today, and their mascot was made specifically to advertise the arches.  Archy McDonald was the next mascot as a result and was used right up until the 1970's.  In 1963, TV personality Willard Scott who played Bozo the Clown in his market help come up with the idea of another mascot.........

Of course this version of Ronald McDonald was much different compared to the one we know today.  He wore a tray on top of his head and around the waist.  His nose was a cup.  His hair was kind of whitish.  Many deem this version of Ronald very creepy.  In time, Ronald began to be redeveloped.

 A little bit baggier than today's Ronald, this was the beginning of the Ronald McDonald we know today.  As the McDonald's logo changed, so did Ronald.

Pretty soon by the late 1960's, McDonaldland was developed for TV advertising which would be seen on Saturday Mornings and some children's TV specials.

Characters like Mayor McCheese came out around that time.

Big Mac was another.  Big Mac was named after the new idea of a burger first started at a Pittsburgh location and continues to be a big seller to this day.

A creepier version of Hamburglar debuted at this time as did Grimace.

Originally he had multiple arms but was soon reduced to just two.

By the 1980's, the characters were slightly re designed to be more appealing.  Some like Mayor McCheese were long retired.  Replacements like Birdie and the Fry Kids became the replacements.  

But the characters were only in live action costume form until 1990 with its first animated video, The Adventures of Ronald Mcdonald McTreasure Island

Animated by DIC (Inspector Gadget and Heathcliff), this tape was only sold at McDonald's (no TV specials staring the characters or series are allowed on TV according to the FCC).  It featured the voices of Howard Morris (Atom Ant, Ernest T Bass on Andy Griffith) and Russi Taylor (Minnie Mouse and Gonzo and Piggy on Muppet Babies).  

Next came The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald.  This time made by Klaspy Csupo on Nicktoons fame like Rugrats and Wild Thornberries.  These tapes released at McDonald's from 1998 until around 2002 sold like hot cakes.  This series also brought about a new character to the roster, Sundae.  

While Ronald kept going, most of the other characters were left to retire by the mid 2000's, although sometimes they would be used again by franchises or other countries.  The latest character is this minion like character.

He debuted in the 2010's.  He promoted Happy Meals.  

Finally in Japan, they did this anime version of a McDonald's commercial around 2016.  This character is just another anime girl looking for a job. 

Many of these characters were a part of our childhood, and while the conspiracy is out there saying they were made to brainwash us into life long customers, there was still a quality used by characters like Ronald and Grimace that continues to make them beloved to this day.