Mayor McCheese is the McDonaldland character with a cheeseburger-shaped head who serves as the fictional town’s mayor.
McDonald’s introduced Mayor McCheese as part of the McDonaldland advertising world in the early 1970s. His design combined a human body in formal mayoral clothing with an oversized cheeseburger head, making the product itself part of the character’s visual identity. That approach matched the campaign’s playful use of food-shaped and food-themed figures.
Mayor McCheese appeared in television commercials, print advertising, packaging, and promotional material alongside Ronald McDonald and other McDonaldland characters. He is sometimes confused with Officer Big Mac, another character whose design references a McDonald’s product, but Officer Big Mac was a police character rather than the town’s mayor. McDonaldland characters became less prominent in mainstream advertising after the 1980s, although they remain important to the company’s branding history.