McDonald’s called its moon-themed advertising character Mac Tonight.
The character appeared in a 1986 campaign designed to promote McDonald’s evening business. Mac Tonight wore sunglasses and had a crescent-moon head, giving the restaurant a distinctive nighttime visual identity that differed from its usual daytime mascots.
The campaign famously used a version of “Mack the Knife,” a song associated with Bobby Darin’s recording. The musical association helped make Mac Tonight memorable, while the moon design made the character easy to identify in television advertisements and promotional material.
Mac Tonight should not be confused with Mac the Knife, the song reference, or with Ronald McDonald, the company’s principal clown mascot. Mac Tonight was a specific campaign character linked especially to nighttime dining and the 1980s.