Which McDonald's character appears as the company's primary mascot?

Ronald McDonald appears as McDonald's primary mascot.

The character was created to give McDonald's a friendly, memorable personality that children could recognize in advertising and at restaurants. He is depicted as a clown wearing the brand's red-and-yellow colors, linking the character directly to the company's visual identity.

Ronald McDonald became the central figure in a broader fictional world that included characters such as Grimace, the Hamburglar, and Mayor McCheese. These figures helped McDonald's build a distinctive family-oriented advertising style during the second half of the twentieth century.

Ronald is sometimes confused with Speedee, the earlier chef-like mascot. Speedee represented the original promise of fast service, while Ronald became the much more prominent long-term public mascot. The character's name is also distinct from the McDonald brothers and from the company name itself.