McDonaldland was the McDonald's branding system that created a fictional world populated by characters such as Mayor McCheese and Grimace.
The campaign introduced a fantasy setting in which food-related characters interacted in a colorful landscape. It was designed primarily for television and children's marketing, making the restaurant brand more memorable by giving it recurring stories, locations, and personalities.
McDonaldland included characters with different relationships to McDonald's products and imagery. Mayor McCheese represented a civic leader, while the Hamburglar was associated with hamburgers and Grimace became a large, friendly purple character. Ronald McDonald acted as the central human-like host within much of the advertising.
The system is sometimes mistaken for a restaurant name or a single mascot. It was actually a broader fictional universe used in advertising and promotional material. Its prominence later declined as McDonald's shifted toward simpler campaigns and more product-focused branding.