What advertising world did McDonald’s introduce in the early 1970s?

McDonald’s introduced the advertising world called McDonaldland in the early 1970s.

McDonaldland was a fantasy setting populated by restaurant-themed characters, including Ronald McDonald, the Hamburglar, Grimace, Birdie the Early Bird, and Mayor McCheese. The campaign turned menu items and restaurant features into a colorful children’s story world, giving McDonald’s a continuing cast for television commercials, packaging, and promotional materials.

The campaign was developed during a period when fast-food companies increasingly used characters and imaginative settings to appeal to families. McDonaldland is sometimes treated as if it were a real theme park or a single television series, but it was primarily an advertising universe used across multiple media. Several characters changed design over the years, and some were retired, while Ronald remained the central figure. The brand world became one of the most distinctive parts of McDonald’s visual history, linking the restaurant’s food products with recurring names, costumes, and fictional locations.