Ronald McDonald

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For the writer and a member of the founding family of McDonald's, see Ronald L. McDonald.
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Ronald McDonald
Image:Ronald McDonald.jpg
Created by Willard Scott
Portrayed by Willard Scott, Bev Bergeron, George Voorhis, Bob Brandon, King Moody, Squire Fridell, Jack Deopke, Joe Maggard, and Brad Lennon
Information
Gender Male
Occupation Fictional clown mascot for the McDonald's fast food chain.

Ronald McDonald is a clown character used as the primary mascot of the McDonald's fast-food restaurant chain. Ronald McDonald is the second most recognized figure in the world (after Santa Claus)[1]. In television commercials, the clown inhabits a fantasy world called McDonaldland, and has adventures with his friends Mayor McCheese, the Hamburglar, Grimace, Birdie the Early Bird, and The Fry Kids. The McDonald's Corporation has also characterized Ronald McDonald as being able to speak 31 different languages including Mandarin, Dutch, Tagalog, and Hindi.[2] In recent years, the "childish" McDonaldland has been largely phased out, and Ronald is instead shown interacting with normal kids in their everyday lives. He was first portrayed on television by Willard Scott.

Many people work full-time making appearances in the Ronald McDonald costume, visiting children in hospitals. There are also Ronald McDonald Houses, where parents can stay overnight when visiting sick children in nearby chronic care facilities. Since August 2003, McDonald has been officially recognized as the "Chief Happiness Officer" of the McDonald's Corporation.

Contents

Origin

Willard Scott as Ronald McDonald, from the first of three pre-recorded television advertisements to feature Ronald. Note the "food-tray hat".
Willard Scott as Ronald McDonald, from the first of three pre-recorded television advertisements to feature Ronald. Note the "food-tray hat".

Willard Scott

The first version of the origin of Ronald McDonald involves Willard Scott (a local radio personality who also played Bozo the Clown on WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. from 1959 until 1962), who performed using the moniker "Ronald McDonald, the Hamburger-Happy Clown" in 1963 on three separate television spots. These were the first three television ads featuring the character, whose later appearance was substantially similar to George Voorhees' prior appearance as Ronald Mcdonald (spelt with a lower-case "d") as shown in the Valley News and Green Sheet, a San Fernando Valley newspaper of the time.

Scott, who went on to become NBC-TV's Today Show weatherman, claims to have "created Ronald McDonald" according to the following excerpt from his book Joy of Living:

“ At the time, Bozo was the hottest children's show on the air. You could probably have sent Pluto the Dog or Dumbo the Elephant over and it would have been equally as successful. But I was there, and I was Bozo... There was something about the combination of hamburgers and Bozo that was irresistible to kids... That's why when Bozo went off the air a few years later, the local McDonald's people asked me to come up with a new character to take Bozo's place. So, I sat down and created Ronald McDonald.[3] ”

McDonald's does not mention Voorhees or claim that Willard Scott "created Ronald" in their statement:

“ The smile known around the world," Ronald McDonald is second only to Santa Claus in terms of recognition. (According to one survey, 96% of all school kids in the United States of America recognize Ronald (stunning-stuff.com)). In his first TV appearance in 1963, the happy clown was portrayed by none other than Willard Scott. ”

Additionally, and disregarding Voorhees' claim, on March 28, 2000, Henry Gonzalez, McDonald's Northeast Division President, thanked Scott for creating Ronald McDonald, during a taped tribute to Scott on the Today Show.

In 1965, Roy Burgold assigned Aye Jaye as Boss Clown worldwide in charge of hiring, writing, creating shows, media handling, training, and major events such as The White House appearances, Macy Days, etc., and finally opening Ronald worldwide for 35 years. Aye Jaye was responsible for the hiring of hundreds of past field Ronalds. In 1965, Roy Burgold assigned Aye Jaye as Boss Clown worldwide in charge of hiring, writing, creating shows, media handling, training, and major events such as The White House appearances, Macy Days, etc., and finally opening Ronald worldwide for 35 years. Aye Jaye was responsible for the hiring of hundreds of past field Ronalds.

Actors

Someone portraying Ronald McDonald on their way to a McDonald's event.
Someone portraying Ronald McDonald on their way to a McDonald's event.

At any given time, there are dozens, or possibly hundreds, of actors retained by McDonald's to appear as Ronald McDonald in restaurants and events. It is assumed, however, that the company uses only one actor at a time to play the character in national television commercials. Following is a list of such primary Ronald actors.

Various forms of the name "Ronald McDonald" as well as costume clown face persona, etc. are registered trademarks of McDonald's. McDonald's trains performers to portray Ronald using identical mannerisms and costume, to contribute to the illusion that they are one character.

McDonald's marketing designers and stylists changed elements of the Ronald McDonald character, persona, style, costume and clown face when they adopted the clown as a trademark, possibly in deference to "The Code", the tradition of clowns to scrupulously avoid copying other clowns' appearance or performance style.

The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald

The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald was a series of retail animated direct-to-video features produced by the ka-chew! division of Klasky-Csupo (an animation company famous for creating shows like Rugrats, The Wild Thornberrys, and Duckman) for the McDonald's fast-food restaurant chain. A total of six forty-minute tapes were produced, released at various times between 1998 and 2003.

Although the series is "free-standing," ongoing artistic influences can be inferred from the ways certain characters were drawn for animation. For example, the character Birdie shares certain aspects of grooming and costume with Eliza Thornberry, and the rendition and bearing of the Hamburglar, reminiscent of Darwin and of Chuckie Finster, may have been an influence on the design of Otto Rocket. Elements of early K-C "house style" are also very evident on other supporting characters like Sundae the dog and the Chicken McNuggets. Co-protagonist Tika, however, is a very normal looking human girl of color. Iam Hungry appeared to be in one part of the episode Visitors From Outer Space.

Miscellaneous

Voice talent on these tapes includes K-C veterans such as Christine Cavanaugh, Kath Soucie, and Charles Adler. The role of Ronald McDonald is credited as "Himself."

  • Ronald McDonald
  • Birdie the Early Bird
  • Hamburglar
  • Grimace
  • Iam Hungry
  • CosMc
  • Fry Kids
  • King Gonga
  • Mayor McCheese
  • Uncle O'Grimacey

By various accounts, the titles turned out to be rather popular, and individual McDonald's locations frequently ran out of tapes. Klasky-Csupo therefore agreed to carry them for direct sale at their online gift shop, which closed in the fall of 2005.

In other countries

In Thailand, Ronald McDonald greets people in the traditional Thai "wai" greeting gesture of hands together.

In Japan, Ronald McDonald is called ドナルド・マクドナルド - Donald McDonald - apparently because this is easier for the Japanese to pronounce. An ad campaign for the Tomato McGrand featured a young man and woman dressed in colors similar to Ronald's garb.

See also

References

  1. ^ Brownell, K.D. (2004). Overfeeding the future. In A. Heintzman & E. Solomon (Eds.) Feeding the future, from fat to famine. Anansi.
  2. ^ McDonald's India: Fun Zone
  3. ^ "Big Burger Business: McDonald's and Burger King". Heavyweights. Food Network. 2008-04-21. No. 3, season 2.

Further reading

  • Schlosser, E. (2006) Chew on this: everything you don’t want to know about fast food. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co.

External links

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