Ronald McDonald made his first television appearance for McDonald’s in Washington, D.C., in 1963.
The character was created as a clown spokesman for the restaurant brand during a period when television advertising was becoming increasingly important to family marketing. Willard Scott portrayed the earliest televised version of Ronald McDonald, drawing on his work as a local television personality.
Ronald’s appearance and costume changed over time as McDonald’s developed a larger cast of fictional characters and a more consistent visual identity. The familiar red-and-yellow costume became strongly associated with the brand internationally.
People sometimes connect Ronald’s origin with Chicago because McDonald’s corporate headquarters later became closely associated with the city and its suburbs. The first television appearance, however, took place in Washington, D.C., not Chicago.