Which McDonald's character was known as the chain's fictional mayor?

Mayor McCheese was McDonaldland’s fictional mayor.

The character was a large cheeseburger with a human-style body, formal clothing, and a chain of office. He appeared in McDonald’s advertising as an authority figure within the whimsical McDonaldland setting, where many characters were designed around restaurant foods or themes.

Mayor McCheese’s name made the character’s role and menu connection immediately clear. He was part of the broader 1970s campaign that used recurring personalities to give McDonald’s a distinctive family-oriented storytelling style.

Mayor McCheese is sometimes confused with Officer Big Mac because both were civic or official figures in McDonaldland. They were separate characters. The Hamburglar was also part of the same advertising world, but his defining role was that of a mischievous burger thief rather than a mayor.