What was the name of McDonald’s mischievous striped character introduced in 1971?

The Hamburglar was McDonald’s mischievous striped character introduced in 1971. His defining joke was trying to steal hamburgers, especially Big Macs, from the McDonaldland characters.

The earliest Hamburglar design was quite different from the later version most associated with the character. He was portrayed as a small, impish figure with a more complicated costume and speech pattern. McDonald’s later redesigned him into a child-sized character wearing a black-and-white striped outfit, cape, and wide-brimmed hat.

The character belonged to the same fictional advertising world as Ronald McDonald, Grimace, Mayor McCheese, and other McDonaldland figures. His role gave the brand a recurring comic conflict without making the advertising genuinely threatening.

The definite article matters in the canonical name: McDonald’s usually called him “the Hamburglar.” He is sometimes shortened informally to “Hamburglar,” but the character’s branding name includes the title-like article.