McDonaldland was McDonald's fictional advertising world featuring Ronald McDonald and Grimace.
The setting was created for television commercials and promotional material aimed largely at children. It presented McDonald's characters as residents of an imaginative landscape, allowing the brand to connect its restaurants and products with recurring stories and recognizable personalities.
Important McDonaldland figures included Ronald McDonald, Grimace, the Hamburglar, Mayor McCheese, Birdie, and Captain Crook. Characters were often linked to particular foods or restaurant themes, giving the advertising world a broad cast and a distinctive visual identity.
McDonaldland is sometimes confused with Hamburger University, which is a real McDonald's training institution rather than a fictional setting. The word also refers to the advertising universe, not to a single restaurant location. Its strongest period was in the 1970s and 1980s, although individual characters appeared in later campaigns.