What was the name of McDonald’s fictional mayor introduced in 1971?

Mayor McCheese was the name of McDonald’s fictional mayor introduced in 1971.

The character had a large cheeseburger for a head and wore the formal clothing associated with a civic leader. That visual joke made him instantly recognizable and tied a familiar menu item to McDonald’s expanding fictional world.

Mayor McCheese appeared in McDonaldland advertising alongside characters such as Ronald McDonald, the Hamburglar, Grimace, and Birdie. The setting gave McDonald’s a way to present restaurant visits as part of a colorful story universe rather than as ordinary product advertising.

The character is often mixed up with Officer Big Mac, whose head was shaped like a Big Mac and whose role was law enforcement. Mayor McCheese’s defining feature was civic office, while his cheeseburger head connected the character directly to the restaurant’s food branding.