The Hamburglar was introduced in 1971 as McDonald’s striped-shirted hamburger thief.
The character became part of McDonaldland, a fictional advertising setting populated by personalities connected with McDonald’s menu and restaurant experience. The Hamburglar’s defining story was his desire to steal hamburgers, giving commercials a simple recurring conflict that children could easily understand.
His original design was more elaborate and somewhat sinister than the later version. McDonald’s eventually redesigned him as a smaller, friendlier character wearing a black-and-white striped outfit, cape, mask, and hat. The redesign helped make the character more suitable for family advertising.
The Hamburglar is often confused with Mayor McCheese or Grimace, who were also McDonaldland figures. Unlike those characters, the Hamburglar’s central role was the playful pursuit of hamburgers. He belongs to the early-1970s expansion of McDonald’s fictional brand world.