McDonaldland was the name McDonald's used for its fictional advertising universe featuring Ronald McDonald and other characters.
The setting was introduced in television commercials and promotional material in the early 1970s. It presented McDonald's branding as a colorful fantasy world populated by figures such as Ronald McDonald, Grimace, the Hamburglar, Mayor McCheese, and Captain Crook.
McDonaldland gave the characters a shared setting and helped McDonald's create a consistent family-oriented advertising identity. Instead of presenting each mascot in isolation, commercials could show them interacting in a recognizable fictional community connected to the restaurant brand.
The name is sometimes confused with individual character names, especially Ronald McDonald or Mayor McCheese. McDonaldland referred to the broader world, not one mascot. Its use also led to a legal dispute with the creators of “H.R. Pufnstuf” over similarities between some characters and settings.