Mac Tonight was McDonald’s moon-themed advertising character introduced in 1986.
The character appeared as a person with a crescent-moon head, sunglasses, and a tuxedo. His commercials promoted McDonald’s as an evening destination and used a jazz-oriented version of “Mack the Knife.”
Mac Tonight was created for a regional campaign in Southern California before becoming a nationally recognized advertising figure. The campaign helped give McDonald’s late-night branding a distinct visual identity separate from McDonaldland’s daytime characters.
The name is sometimes confused with the song used in the commercials or with a general nighttime slogan. Mac Tonight refers specifically to the moon-headed character, not the campaign’s musical arrangement.