Which McDonald’s mascot was designed as a masked thief who tried to steal hamburgers?

The Hamburglar was McDonald’s mascot designed as a masked thief who tried to steal hamburgers.

The character became part of the McDonaldland advertising cast in the early 1970s. His striped clothing, cape, mask, and exaggerated behavior gave McDonald’s a recurring comic antagonist who could be used in stories about hamburgers and restaurant visits.

The Hamburglar’s appearance changed over time. The earliest version looked more like a short, mischievous adult, while later advertising presented him as a smaller, childlike character. The core idea remained the same: he was obsessed with hamburgers and tried to take them.

The Hamburglar is sometimes confused with Grimace because both began as mischievous figures before becoming friendlier. Grimace was associated with milkshakes; the Hamburglar’s defining target was hamburgers.