In McDonald's branding history, the moon-faced character featured in the 1980s campaign was Mac Tonight.
Mac Tonight appeared in McDonald's advertising beginning in 1986. The character had a crescent-moon head, wore sunglasses, and sang a version of “Mack the Knife” to promote evening dining. His visual design and musical presentation made the campaign notably different from the restaurant's child-focused McDonaldland advertising.
The campaign was created to encourage customers to visit McDonald's at night. Mac Tonight became strongly associated with the song and the character's piano-playing performance in television commercials. The campaign was especially prominent in the United States during the late 1980s.
Mac Tonight is sometimes confused with McDonald's long-running mascots because he was a branded character, but he was created for a specific evening-oriented campaign rather than serving as the chain's main mascot. The character was later retired from U.S. advertising.