McDonaldland was the fictional world created for McDonald's characters and advertising in 1971.
The campaign presented McDonald's as an imaginary landscape populated by characters such as Ronald McDonald, the Hamburglar, Grimace, Mayor McCheese, and Birdie the Early Bird. These figures and locations turned the restaurant brand into a continuing story world aimed especially at children.
McDonaldland was more than a single mascot advertisement. It supplied a shared setting for television commercials, packaging, restaurant promotions, and playground imagery. Its characters gave McDonald's a recognizable cast that could be reused across different campaigns.
The name is sometimes confused with Happy Meal branding, but McDonaldland and the Happy Meal were different parts of the company's marketing history. McDonaldland identified the fictional setting; the Happy Meal was a food-and-toy product line.