What fictional town formed the setting for McDonald’s McDonaldland advertising?

McDonaldland was the fictional town created as the setting for McDonald’s character-based advertising.

The campaign launched in the early 1970s and populated an imaginary world with characters connected to McDonald’s products and visual identity. Ronald McDonald served as its central figure, while characters such as the Hamburglar, Grimace, Mayor McCheese, and Birdie appeared in commercials and promotional material.

McDonaldland gave McDonald’s a consistent story world for reaching children and families. Instead of presenting isolated characters, the advertising made them residents or visitors in a shared setting with recurring locations and themes.

The name can be confused with the individual characters or with McDonald’s restaurant branding generally. McDonaldland is the setting itself. The campaign’s characters had different introduction dates and changed over time, but the fictional world is identified by this single name.