The Hamburglar represented McDonald’s hamburgers as a masked thief in McDonaldland.
The Hamburglar was introduced in 1971 as one of McDonald’s fictional McDonaldland characters. His central joke was simple: he constantly tried to steal hamburgers, especially Big Macs, while the other characters attempted to stop or expose him. The concept turned a product name into a memorable character-driven advertising story.
The original Hamburglar had a small, childlike appearance and spoke in a highly stylized way. McDonald’s redesigned him in the 1980s as a taller, more human-looking character wearing a black-and-white outfit, cape, and red accessories. This redesign is one reason images of the character can look very different depending on the decade.
The Hamburglar is not the same character as Mayor McCheese, whose cheeseburger head made him the mayor of McDonaldland. Both belonged to the same advertising universe but played different roles.