The Hamburglar joined McDonaldland in 1971 as a fictional character who tried to steal hamburgers.
He was created as part of McDonald’s expanding fantasy setting, which placed Ronald McDonald and other characters in a world built around the restaurant’s food and identity. In his earliest appearances, the Hamburglar had a more sinister appearance, including a black mask and a costume resembling an old-fashioned prisoner or thief.
McDonald’s later redesigned the character for a younger audience. The modernized Hamburglar became shorter and more childlike, while the basic idea of a mischievous hamburger thief remained. His repeated attempts to take hamburgers provided a simple comic storyline for television advertisements, packaging, and promotional material.
The Hamburglar is sometimes mixed up with Captain Crook, another McDonaldland character, or with Grimace, who was not a thief. His name is a wordplay combination of “hamburger” and “burglar,” making the character’s role explicit.