Which McDonald's character was introduced in 1971 as a masked food thief?

The Hamburglar was introduced in 1971 as a masked character who tried to steal hamburgers from McDonald's.

The character became part of McDonaldland, the fictional setting used in McDonald's advertising to connect its products with an imaginative cast of personalities. Early versions of the Hamburglar were small, somewhat sinister, and spoke in unusual language; later redesigns made him taller, friendlier, and more appealing to children.

His striped clothing, mask, and repeated attempts to take hamburgers made the character visually distinctive. The brand used him as a comic troublemaker rather than a genuinely threatening figure, keeping the advertising family-friendly.

The Hamburglar is sometimes confused with Grimace, who was originally linked to milkshakes, or with Mayor McCheese, a civic-style character. Those figures occupied different roles in the McDonaldland campaign. The Hamburglar's defining branding concept was hamburger theft.