Which McDonald's advertising character is a striped-shirt thief who targets hamburgers?

The Hamburglar is the McDonald’s advertising character portrayed as a striped-shirt thief who targets hamburgers.

He was part of McDonaldland, the fictional advertising setting created for Ronald McDonald and other branded characters. The Hamburglar’s role was built around a simple comic idea: he tried to steal McDonald’s hamburgers and was usually caught or thwarted.

The character’s design changed over the decades. Early versions were more ghostlike and spoke in an exaggerated way, while later versions were made younger and more conventionally cartoonish. These redesigns can make historical images look like different characters.

The Hamburglar is not the same as Mayor McCheese, whose head is a cheeseburger, or Grimace, whose role and appearance also evolved. His name is a pun combining “hamburger” with “burglar,” making the character’s advertising function immediately clear.