Mac Tonight was the moon-like character in McDonald's 1980s advertising campaign.
Mac Tonight appeared in television commercials promoting evening visits to McDonald's. The character had a crescent-moon head, sunglasses, and a tuxedo, creating a deliberately theatrical nighttime image. The campaign used a rewritten version of “Mack the Knife” to reinforce its after-dark theme.
The campaign began in 1986 and was created to encourage customers to visit McDonald's for dinner rather than treating it mainly as a daytime or lunch restaurant. Mac Tonight was therefore a campaign character with a specific business purpose, not one of the older McDonaldland residents.
Mac Tonight is often mixed up with Ronald McDonald or the Hamburglar because all three were used in McDonald's advertising. His moon design and evening positioning make him distinctive in the company's branding history.