Which McDonaldland character was designed as a hamburger thief?

The Hamburglar was McDonaldland’s character designed as a hamburger thief.

Introduced during the early 1970s, the Hamburglar was a small costumed character whose defining behavior was trying to steal hamburgers. His striped clothing, cape, mask, and exaggerated manner made him visually distinct in McDonald’s advertising.

The character appeared alongside Ronald McDonald and other McDonaldland figures in commercials and promotional material. His role created a simple comic conflict: he wanted the burgers, while the other characters tried to stop or catch him.

The Hamburglar was later redesigned, becoming more childlike and less menacing than the earliest version. This change reflected McDonald’s broader effort to make its fictional characters friendlier and more suitable for family-focused marketing.