Mayor McCheese was the mayor of McDonaldland in McDonald's classic 1970s branding. He was depicted with a large cheeseburger for a head, a suit, and a mayoral chain, making him an unmistakable food-based character.
McDonaldland commercials created a fictional setting populated by characters such as the Hamburglar, Grimace, Birdie, and Officer Big Mac. The campaign gave children a story world in which McDonald's menu items became personalities and civic figures.
Mayor McCheese is sometimes mistaken for Officer Big Mac because both were authority figures in the same fictional universe. Officer Big Mac had a Big Mac-shaped head and police role, whereas Mayor McCheese's defining feature was the cheeseburger head and mayoral title.