Mac Tonight was McDonald’s advertising character for the campaign of the same name in the 1980s.
The character was shown as a crescent moon wearing sunglasses and singing a rewritten version of “Mack the Knife.” The campaign associated McDonald’s with evening dining and gave the brand a distinctive nighttime visual identity.
Mac Tonight was separate from Ronald McDonald and from the Big Mac product itself. Although the character’s name echoed “Mac,” the campaign’s most visible image was the singing crescent moon, which became its defining piece of branding.
The advertising attracted attention because of its unusual musical presentation and memorable costume design. The character was later used in legal disputes involving musician B.B. King’s “Mack the Knife” association, contributing to the campaign’s eventual decline.