McDonald’s fictional world introduced with its characters in 1963 was McDonaldland.
McDonaldland provided a shared setting for advertising characters such as Ronald McDonald, Mayor McCheese, Grimace, and the Hamburglar. The campaign presented the restaurant brand as a colorful fantasy world aimed especially at children and families.
Ronald McDonald had already begun appearing in advertising in 1963, and the wider McDonaldland concept developed around the use of recurring characters and stories. These characters helped make McDonald’s advertising more serial and recognizable than isolated product commercials.
McDonaldland is sometimes confused with McWorld, a later promotional phrase used in McDonald’s marketing. The names are not interchangeable: McDonaldland refers to the fictional character universe associated with the restaurant’s classic children’s advertising.