Mayor McCheese was introduced in 1971 as McDonaldland’s cheeseburger-headed mayor.
The character wore a mayoral sash and formal clothing while having a large cheeseburger for a head. His design helped McDonald’s turn individual menu references into a larger fictional advertising world populated by recurring characters and locations.
Mayor McCheese appeared in commercials, print materials, and other promotional media alongside Ronald McDonald and characters such as the Hamburglar, Birdie, and Grimace. The character’s title made the branded setting feel like a complete town rather than a series of unrelated restaurant advertisements.
Mayor McCheese is sometimes mistaken for the Big Mac-inspired Officer Big Mac because both characters used burger imagery. They were separate McDonaldland figures. The character also became notable in a 1976 legal dispute involving the creators of the children’s television program “H.R. Pufnstuf.”