The moon-faced character in McDonald’s “Mac Tonight” campaign was called Mac Tonight.
Mac Tonight was introduced in 1986 as a singing, moon-headed figure who promoted McDonald’s evening hours. The advertisements used a rewritten version of the 1930s song “Mack the Knife,” changing the lyrics to emphasize nighttime dining and the restaurant’s extended service.
The character’s appearance made him visually distinct from Ronald McDonald and the McDonaldland cast. He wore sunglasses and a formal jacket, creating a lounge-singer image rather than a child-oriented mascot. The moon-shaped head was the central branding device in the campaign.
Mac Tonight is sometimes mistakenly treated as a permanent McDonald’s mascot. In reality, the campaign was associated mainly with a particular advertising period and was later retired in the United States. The character nevertheless became one of the company’s most distinctive short-lived branding experiments.