Ronald McDonald was the Hamburglar’s main burger-stealing rival in early McDonaldland advertising.
McDonaldland was a fictional setting created for McDonald’s advertising, populated by characters associated with menu items and restaurant themes. In those stories, the Hamburglar repeatedly tried to steal hamburgers, while Ronald McDonald generally served as the friendly central character who opposed or outsmarted him.
Mayor McCheese, Officer Big Mac, and Captain Crook were also McDonaldland characters, but they filled different narrative roles. Their presence can make questions about the Hamburglar’s opponents seem ambiguous unless the main hero of the advertisements is specified.
The character relationships belonged to advertising fiction rather than to McDonald’s real restaurant operations. McDonaldland campaigns were especially prominent in the United States during the 1970s and 1980s.