The McDonald’s advertising character known for stealing hamburgers and wearing black-and-white stripes was the Hamburglar.
The Hamburglar became one of the best-known figures in McDonaldland, the fictional world used in McDonald’s advertising. Early versions had a small, mischievous appearance and spoke in a distinctive, childlike style. Later redesigns made the character taller and more conventionally cartoon-like.
His repeated attempts to take hamburgers gave commercials a simple conflict that children could recognize immediately. Ronald McDonald and other characters commonly thwarted or confronted him, reinforcing the restaurant’s family-friendly storytelling.
The Hamburglar is sometimes confused with characters whose names refer directly to menu items, such as Mayor McCheese. His defining trait was not civic status or a specific product role, but his comic hamburger-stealing persona.