The McDonald's child-focused advertising character introduced in 1971 as the Mayor of McDonaldland was Mayor McCheese.
Mayor McCheese was a large humanlike character with a cheeseburger for a head, a sash, and formal mayoral clothing. He appeared in McDonaldland advertising alongside characters such as Ronald McDonald, Grimace, the Hamburglar, and Birdie.
The character helped McDonald's turn its advertising into a connected fantasy setting aimed at children. Mayor McCheese was not the company's first mascot and was not the character who stole hamburgers; those distinctions belong to other McDonaldland figures.
Mayor McCheese later became less prominent as McDonald's changed its advertising strategy and faced legal disputes over McDonaldland character similarities. The character remains one of the clearest examples of the brand's early use of fictional civic and food-themed personalities.