Mac Tonight was the moon-headed character who starred in McDonald's late-night advertising campaign beginning in 1986.
The character was a crescent-moon-headed performer wearing sunglasses and a tuxedo. His commercials promoted McDonald's as a place to visit in the evening, extending the brand beyond its traditional daytime and family associations.
Mac Tonight's advertisements used a rewritten version of “Mack the Knife,” linking the campaign to a recognizable pop-standard melody. The character became one of McDonald's most distinctive advertising creations, although he was used for a limited period rather than becoming a permanent mascot like Ronald McDonald.
Mac Tonight is sometimes confused with McDonald's broader restaurant mascots because of his character costume, but his identity was specifically tied to nighttime branding and the late-1980s campaign.