Mac Tonight was the crescent-moon character who promoted McDonald’s late-night service in television commercials.
McDonald’s introduced Mac Tonight in 1986 as part of an advertising campaign designed to encourage customers to visit restaurants during evening hours. The character wore sunglasses and sang a rewritten version of the 1950s song “Mack the Knife,” giving the campaign a distinctive musical identity.
The crescent-moon head and lounge-singer presentation made Mac Tonight visually different from McDonaldland’s usual cast of cartoon characters. The campaign became particularly associated with McDonald’s nighttime branding in the United States.
Mac Tonight is sometimes confused with the company’s permanent mascots or with characters from McDonaldland. Unlike Ronald McDonald and Grimace, Mac Tonight was primarily a campaign character created around a specific daypart and advertising concept.