The Legend of McDonaldland

[SSLFan]

Here is an early McDonald's commercial featuring Ronald and some kids trying to get to a McDonald's through "McDonaldland," a fictional place used alot in early McDonald's commercials(if your a child of the 60's and early 70's).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4JgvTOdhtQ

After a lawsuit by Sid and Marty Krofft( the creators of H.R. Pufnstuff)claiming McDonaldland was just a ripoff of thier television show, many of the McDonaldland charcthers were retired from the commercials, and the whole "magical place" seemed to be phased out.

In the 1980's, Ronald, The Hambugurlar, Grimace, and Birdy the Early Bird would be the main charcthers featured in commercials.

So now my question is, how come we don't see these guys anyomore?:confused:

[heralde]

Lol, I'm not surprised the Krofft brothers sued!

I wish I knew why McDonald's commericals have taken such a turn. There does seem to be a trend lately to make commericals, even kid's commericals, less "corny and cheesy." Which I think is a shame. Also, perhaps it's less expensive to do the commericals they put out now.

[D'Snowth]

Hmm, you know, that whole commercial DOES look a lot like Living Island, and that song playing in the background DOES sound like the kind of song you might hear on a Krofft show.

As for those other characters... you're right, what ever happened to them? There's ONE McDonald's in my town (out of quite a few, that is) that has a giant mural on the side of their building with Ronald, Birdy, Grimace, the Hamburgerlar, and those little fuzzy guys that come in every color of the rainbow.

[Drtooth]

Lol, I'm not surprised the Krofft brothers sued!

I wish I knew why McDonald's commericals have taken such a turn. There does seem to be a trend lately to make commericals, even kid's commericals, less "corny and cheesy." Which I think is a shame. Also, perhaps it's less expensive to do the commericals they put out now.


They're way too hip, and it sweems like the government stepped in and forced them to talk about "what I eat and what I do." A nobel idea, but where the heck is Grimmace and the Hamburgeler? They could be teaching this as well, instead of having some kid do the robot. And you know the one I'm talkinag about. How is that not considered cheesey?

But then, even in my day, The Pirate, the Professor, and the 2 guys with hamburger heads (Mayor McCheese and Big Mac the cop) were on their way out.

[wwfpooh]

Ironically, Mayor McCheese was the spokescharacter for the franchise until Ronald showed up!

[Son of Enik]

Here is an early McDonald's commercial featuring Ronald and some kids trying to get to a McDonald's through "McDonaldland," a fictional place used alot in early McDonald's commercials(if your a child of the 60's and early 70's).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4JgvTOdhtQ

After a lawsuit by Sid and Marty Krofft( the creators of H.R. Pufnstuff)claiming McDonaldland was just a ripoff of thier television show, many of the McDonaldland charcthers were retired from the commercials, and the whole "magical place" seemed to be phased out.

In the 1980's, Ronald, The Hambugurlar, Grimace, and Birdy the Early Bird would be the main charcthers featured in commercials.

So now my question is, how come we don't see these guys anyomore?:confused:

I have an interview with The Kroffts as well as David Martindale's book, "Pufnstuf & Other Stuf" and the reason for the lawsuit was that the McDonald's company went to Sid & Marty to produce their commercials, then backed out of the deal before contracts were signed. After the commercials aired, the Krofts noticed too many similarities to the Pufnstuf show and it's characters. That is why Sid & Marty sued and won.

[wwfpooh]

The last time we saw Hamburglar, Grimace, and Birdy was in the animated "Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald" video series that McDonald's was handing out.

[frogboy4]

I can't ever see Grimace teaching proper nutrition. :p Maybe he could be the foil in any such PSA. The problem with fast food chains like McDonalds is that they are only interested in the appearance of doing something - not the actual doing of it. Of course they do have the Ronald McDonald Houses and charities.

On the subject of the clip - I enjoyed it. So crackycrazy who wouldn't like that piece? The thing about copyrights is that there is no "copyright police" so it is up to any copyright holder to defend its material against poachers. It can be very costly and most cases are settled prior to verdict.

If the company had been able to continually produce spots such as this one I can only imagine there being even more diabetes and childhood obesity. Many kids from lower income backgrounds are not given the opportunity to explore healthy options and I find that to be a form of abuse. Put enough sugar, corn syrup, starch, salt and beef tannin in a food product, kids will like it. It's like nicotine. I still don't get why healthier wraps and sandwiches aren't offered. There alternatives are short-lived and usually are as bad as their Big Macs. But I digress. :(

I have always loved Grimace and the Hamburgler. I was meant to. The advertising strategy was aimed right at me as a kid. I do miss them and hope that there will be some way of bringing them back in a different context.

Does anyone remember the Ronald McDonald commercials of the mid 90s? It was an answer to people leaving for Jack in the Box. Ronald would be doing young adult things like going to discos etc. They used it to promote "grown -up/gourmet" sandwiches. Didn't work. At least Jack from Jack in the Box seems honest about trying to stick cheese and bacon in every product he can! :crazy:

[wwfpooh]

Anyone also remember that singing moon character that sang similarly to that sword Eddie found in a toon weapon box in Roger Rabbit?

[heralde]

Yup, I definitely remember Mac Tonight, awesome commericals, lol. He sang a version of "Mack the Knife", which was the reason the ads stopped airing (copyright and all heh).

And that's true about lower income families, they don't have as many choices when it comes to food. I know when I'm sort on cash, that's where I go. Reminds me of WalMart, heh.

[wwfpooh]

Indeed. Wal-Mart and McDonald's are a lot alike.

[frogboy4]

Yup, I definitely remember Mac Tonight, awesome commericals, lol. He sang a version of "Mack the Knife", which was the reason the ads stopped airing (copyright and all heh).

And that's true about lower income families, they don't have as many choices when it comes to food. I know when I'm sort on cash, that's where I go. Reminds me of WalMart, heh.

My crazy hectic college days were spent drinking warm Coca-Cola and cold Taco Bell. Now I stock up on protein bars at the beginning of every month as a safety food. Not great, but better. Sometimes these days I live on Diet Coke, protein bars and Goldfish crackers (along with leafy greens when at all possible). It's always about the trade-off.

I remember the moon character. Poor fella. I miss him as I miss all of his old cheesy fast food friends. :(

[wwfpooh]

I wonder why they never put out the now out-of-print "McTreasure Island" video--a McDonald's version of the Stevenson tale starring Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver (ironically, also the name of a rival fast food franchise)--on DVD?

[Luke]

I'm pretty sure they used the characters again here in the UK very briefly as part of an anniversary thing a few years back. I used to love the McDonaldLand characters as a kid, our local McD's had a mural too, and i loved Hamburglar. We had Happy Meal car toys with each character driving a different one, still got em somewhere i think.

I also remember they used to give kids paper hats to wear in the restaurants, like little sailor type ones. Most of our restaurants had both an upstairs and a downstairs (upstairs just for eating, not ordering) but they changed that here and its all just on one level now.

[wwfpooh]

Rubble! Rubble! The Hamburglar was my favorite character of the entire gang. I even liked his street-wise incarnation in the company-promoted direct-to-video cartoon series.