The Hamburglar was introduced by McDonald's in 1971 as a striped-shirt, burglar-themed mascot.
He was part of the McDonaldland character universe, a group of fictional figures created to give McDonald's advertising a shared fantasy setting. The Hamburglar's recurring story involved trying to steal hamburgers, usually while being thwarted or caught by other characters. His name directly turned the word “hamburger” into a playful character identity.
The original Hamburglar looked different from the later version. Early advertisements portrayed him as a smaller, older-looking character with a more complicated costume. McDonald's redesigned him in the 1980s as a younger character with a black mask, red cape, and a more child-friendly appearance.
The Hamburglar is sometimes mixed up with Captain Crook, another McDonaldland character associated with stealing Filet-O-Fish sandwiches. Grimace and Mayor McCheese were also introduced as McDonaldland figures, but neither was the burger-stealing character identified by the Hamburglar name.