Which McDonald’s character is a clown and the company’s best-known longtime mascot?

Ronald McDonald is the clown who became McDonald’s best-known longtime mascot.

McDonald’s introduced Ronald in television advertising during 1963, after the company had previously used the chef character Speedee. Ronald’s bright costume, red hair, and clown makeup made him easy for children to recognize, and the character became the central figure in a large family-oriented advertising program.

Other McDonald’s characters, including the Hamburglar and Mayor McCheese, appeared in the same broader fictional advertising world. They are sometimes mistakenly identified as the company’s main mascot because they were heavily featured in classic commercials. Ronald, however, was the principal mascot associated with the brand.

His prominence later varied by market and by advertising strategy. Even with those changes, Ronald McDonald remains a major part of McDonald’s branding history and is closely linked with the company’s family-focused image.