Overcomplicated Marketing Much?23:13 Jun 19 2009
Times Read: 835
This all started when I was looking for an evil muffin for Morri, but then, doesn't everything start that way?
I had it in my head that there was an evil McDonaldland muffin...oddly, that seems to be the ONLY thing there never was. How many of these do you even remember? (Copied from Wikipedia)
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Ronald McDonald, the primary icon of McDonald's characters.
Sundae, Ronald's dog
Grimace. Grimace is an anthropomorphic purple being. Initially, Grimace was the "Evil Grimace", with two pairs of arms with which to steal milkshakes. After that first campaign, the character was revised to be one of the "good guys", and his number of arms was reduced by two. Commercials and merchandise generally portrayed him as a well-meaning simpleton, whose clumsy antics provided a comic foil to Ronald McDonald. The character was retained after the streamlining of the characters in the '80s. He was voiced by Frank Welker.
The Hamburglar character was a thief that was dressed in a black-and-white hooped shirt and pants, a red cape, a wide-brimmed hat, and red gloves whose primary object of theft was hamburgers. The Hamburglar's early dialog was a continual muttering of "Robble, robble, robble." Later dialog included normal words in a child-like voice. He was voiced by Howard Morris and Charlie Adler until the character was retired.
Birdie the Early Bird was the first identifiably female character, introduced in 1980 to promote the company's new breakfast items. She is a yellow bird wearing a pink jumpsuit and flight cap and scarf. In the ads she is frequently portrayed as a poor flyer, and somewhat clumsy in general. Birdie's origin is explained in one old commercial: a giant egg falls from the night sky into McDonaldland, and Ronald McDonald decides to show the egg love. When the egg hatches, Birdie was so happy that she had already made friends that she decided to stay in McDonaldland. Birdie was voiced by Russi Taylor.
Fry Kids are characters used to promote McDonald's french fries. When they first appeared, they were called Gobblins and liked to steal and gobble up the other characters' french fries. Accompanying them was the "Keep Your Eyes on Your Fries" jingle. Their name was later changed to the Fry Guys, then the Fry Kids, as female characters (the "Fry Girls") were introduced. They are differently-colored, shaggy, ball-like creatures with long legs and no arms, almost resembling a pom-pon with legs and eyes. Most of the time they are mute, but when they speak they talk in some sort of gibberish. In other commercials, they all talk very quickly at once. Their only facial features are bulbous eyes and thick, black eyebrows. The characters were retained after the streamlining of the characters in the '80s.
Mayor McCheese has an enormous cheeseburger for a head, and sports a top hat, a diplomat's sash, and a pair of pince-nez spectacles. He is portrayed as a giggly, bumbling, somewhat incompetent mayor with a wavering, high-pitched voice that is reminiscent to that of comic actor Ed Wynn. The character was dropped during the streamlining of the characters in the 1980s, He did, however, appear in a 1999 McDonaldland VHS entitled Have Time, Will Travel. He has also appeared in several episodes of the animated TV series Family Guy.
Officer Big Mac: In addition to McDonald's signature sandwich, Big Mac was the name of a character in McDonaldland. He was similar to Mayor McCheese in that he had a large Big Mac for a head, except he was the chief of police and as such he wore a constable uniform. As the main source of law and order in McDonaldland, he spent most of his time chasing the Hamburglar and Captain Crook. He was featured in several of the campaign's commercials throughout the late '70s and early '80s. The character was dropped during the streamlining of the characters in the '80s.
Captain Crook was a pirate and is similar in appearance to the famed Captain Hook from Disney's 1953 movie Peter Pan. Unlike the Hamburglar, this villain spent his time trying to steal Filet-O-Fish sandwiches from citizens of McDonaldland while avoiding being caught by Big Mac, the Chief of police of McDonaldland. As part of the nautical theme of the character, Captain Crook used ships and waterways as means to escape being captured. In his final appearances, he was renamed simply "The Captain" and his character design made less sinister. The character was dropped during the streamlining of the characters in the '80s.
The Hamburger Patch is part of the fictional city of McDonaldland where McDonald's hamburgers "grew" like fruit on plants from the Hamburger Patch. Even though hamburgers in McDonaldland were anthropomorphized and spoke, they were picked by characters such as Ronald McDonald and the Hamburglar for consumption. Advertisements featuring the Hamburger Patch were shown as evidence during the McLibel court case in the United Kingdom. During questioning by defendants, McDonald's Senior Vice President of Marketing David Green admitted that showing the reality of meat production "would not be very appetizing". The Hamburger Patch also featured in books and toys used to promote McDonald's. The characters were dropped during the streamlining of the characters in the '80s.
Iam Hungry was a short-lived McDonaldland character. He was introduced in 1998 and dropped in the early 2000s. The character was a floating green fuzzball with orange arms and a monstrous face. He would often appear when Ronald was dining with kids and would constantly crave food; he would never leave them alone until he got fed.
CosMc was a temporary character from McDonaldland. He was featured in a series of McDonald's commercials in 1990 when the McDonaldland gang went to the moon. CosMc was an alien who wore a large space suit, and he talked like a surfer dude. CosMc was featured as a character in the video game, M.C. Kids.
The Happy Meal Gang (Cheeseburger, soft drink, and fries, all regular size) (later joined by the McNugget Buddies)
The Professor, a mad scientist type character in a lab coat. He was introduced in 1971.
Uncle O'Grimacey
COMMENTS
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Morrigon
22:17 Jun 28 2009
Mmm yeah baby
ThothLestat
22:21 Jun 28 2009
wicker is sexay!
don't deny it.
Joli
22:23 Jun 28 2009
You're such a poser. Wicker is just scene, man. I'm looking for a hardcore rattan man!
ThothLestat
22:32 Jun 28 2009
oh, you're NAUGHTY, aren't you?
Morrigon
23:10 Jun 28 2009
*dies*