Mayor McCheese was the McDonaldland character modeled as a talking cheeseburger.
Mayor McCheese appeared as the elected-looking leader of McDonaldland, a fictional advertising setting created for McDonald's in the early 1970s. His head was a large cheeseburger, while he wore a mayoral sash and other civic-style clothing. The design turned a menu item into a recognizable character and connected the restaurant's food with an imaginative world for children.
He is often confused with Officer Big Mac, whose head was a Big Mac, or with the Hamburglar, who was a human-like character associated with stealing hamburgers. Grimace had a different, non-food-shaped design.
McDonaldland characters were used in commercials, packaging, and promotional material. Their use changed over time, but Mayor McCheese remains one of the clearest examples of McDonald's converting product imagery into branded entertainment.