The Hamburglar was introduced in McDonald’s advertising in 1971.
The character was part of the expanding McDonaldland cast created to give McDonald’s advertising a shared fictional setting. In his original form, the Hamburglar was a small, older-looking character associated with stealing hamburgers.
McDonald’s later redesigned him as a younger character wearing a black-and-white striped outfit, cape, and wide-brimmed hat. That version became more familiar to audiences during the 1970s and 1980s.
The Hamburglar’s name uses a pun on “hamburger” and “burglar,” making the character’s role immediately understandable in many English-language advertisements. He was not McDonald’s first mascot: Speedee represented the company earlier, and Ronald McDonald had already appeared in advertising before the Hamburglar joined McDonaldland.