Ronald McDonald first appeared as a McDonald's advertising character in 1963.
The character was created for television advertising aimed especially at children and families. Willard Scott, then a television personality in Washington, D.C., portrayed an early version of Ronald McDonald before the character was developed into the familiar clown used nationally.
Ronald's introduction marked a shift in McDonald's branding toward a larger fictional world around the restaurant. The character appeared alongside other McDonaldland figures in later advertising and became one of the chain's most recognizable brand ambassadors.
Ronald was not McDonald's first mascot. Speedee had represented the company since 1948, but the company eventually emphasized Ronald and its other family-oriented characters instead. Ronald's debut date is therefore a useful distinction in the chain's mascot history.