Editing McDonaldland (section)

==History==
The namesake for McDonaldLand is the [[McDonald's]] restaurants founded by [[Richard and Maurice McDonald]], popularized by [[Ray Kroc]]. Ronald McDonald was originally portrayed by [[Willard Scott]], a former [[Bozo the Clown]] actor. In 1963, he and [[Washington, D.C.]] franchisee Oscar Goldstein created the initial aspects of the character. The initial idea to expand the McDonaldland universe was outsourced to [[DDB Worldwide|Needham, Harper & Steers]] in 1970–71 at the request of McDonald's for its restaurants. The first commercial aired in January 1971. The early commercials were built on an upbeat, [[bubblegum]]-style tune and feature a [[narrator]]; many have plots that involve various villains, like the Hamburglar, Evil Grimace, and Captain Crook trying to steal a corresponding food item but are constantly foiled by Ronald.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=http://mentalfloss.com/article/69989/brief-history-mcdonaldland-and-toys-and-lawsuit-it-spawned|title=A Brief History of McDonaldland and the Toys (and Lawsuit) It Spawned|last=Bellomo|first=Mark|date=2016-10-04|newspaper=Mental Floss|access-date=2016-12-06|archive-date=2019-07-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190708190629/https://mentalfloss.com/article/69989/brief-history-mcdonaldland-and-toys-and-lawsuit-it-spawned|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1973, [[Sid and Marty Krofft]] sued McDonald's, claiming that the entire McDonaldland premise [[Plagiarism|plagiarized]] their television show ''[[H.R. Pufnstuf]]''. In ''[[Sid & Marty Krofft Television Productions Inc. v. McDonald's Corp.]]'', the Kroffts also claimed that the character Mayor McCheese was an infringement on their copyrighted character H.R. Pufnstuf (a mayor himself); Pufnstuf's voice actor, [[Lennie Weinrib]], was even involved with the McDonaldland ads, as the voice of Grimace. At trial, a jury found in favor of the Kroffts, and McDonald's was ordered to pay $50,000. The case was appealed by both parties to the [[United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit]]. The appeals court in a 1977 decision, reassessed damages in favor of the Kroffts to more than $1,000,000.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NCCAGTqRj1EC&pg=RA4-PA51|title=Litigation Services Handbook: The Role of the Financial Expert|last1=Weil|first1=Roman L.|last2=Frank|first2=Peter B.|last3=Hughes|first3=Christian W.|last4=Wagner|first4=Michael J.|date=2007-01-02|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=9780470052686|language=en|access-date=2020-09-20|archive-date=2013-10-12|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131012235657/http://books.google.com/books?id=NCCAGTqRj1EC&pg=RA4-PA51|url-status=live}}</ref> As a result, McDonald's was ordered to stop producing some of the characters, or they must be modified to become legally distinct, and to stop airing commercials featuring those characters until then.<ref name=":0" />

In 1976, [[Remco]] created a line of {{convert|6|in|cm|adj=on|spell=in|0}} action figures to celebrate the characters.<ref name=":0" />

In the 1980s and 1990s, the McDonaldland commercials remained a popular marketing device. The characters that remained following the lawsuit were Ronald McDonald, Grimace, Hamburglar and the French Fry Gobblins (renamed the Fry Guys and later the Fry Kids with the addition of the Fry Girls) while Mayor McCheese, Officer Big Mac, Captain Crook and the Professor were used until 1985. (However, they did return for a [[Sears]] advertisement in 1987.) Birdie the Early Bird would join the lineup soon after representing the restaurant's new breakfast line in the early 1980s. Some of the characters' physical appearances were revised in later commercials (notably Hamburglar, Grimace and Birdie). From then on the characters lived in reality and interacted with real-life people, but commercials still took place in "McDonaldland". Soon after the Happy Meal Gang and the McNugget Buddies were prominent features in the commercials (representing the restaurant's [[Happy Meal]]s and [[Chicken McNuggets]] respectively, being the menu items that mainly appealed to kids) along with Ronald.

Merchandise featuring the McDonaldland characters included a kid-friendly magazine titled "McDonaldland Fun Times", which published six issues a year. A [[direct-to-video]] [[animated film]] titled ''The Adventures of Ronald McDonald: McDonaldland Treasure Island'' was released in 1989, featuring much of the ''McDonaldland'' characters from the 1980s. [[Video game]]s featuring the characters were also released, such as ''[[M.C. Kids]]'' and ''[[McDonald's Treasure Land Adventure]]''.

From 1998 until 2003, ''[[Rugrats]]'' creators [[Klasky Csupo]] and McDonald's released an animated direct-to-video series exclusively on [[VHS]] titled ''[[The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald]]''. The series depicted Ronald, Grimace, Birdie, the Hamburglar and a few new characters, like Ronald's pessimistic dog Sundae. These videos would begin in live-action in what resembled a futuristic McDonaldland. Whenever the characters would enter down a tube or other means of travel, they would become animated. In all six episodes, Ronald goes on adventures with his friends and they learn new things along the way.

In the early 2000s, McDonald's experimented with the possibility of animating the characters to improve ratings. Various spots featuring the Hamburglar and other characters alongside celebrities were planned but were canceled. A conflict emerged between agencies regarding whether to continue using the characters or to follow through the desire of ad agency [[Leo Burnett Worldwide|Leo Burnett]] by elevating the "I'm lovin' it" campaign. The McDonaldland premise was largely dropped out of campaigns and Happy Meal toys. Despite this, the characters continued to appear in advertising and McDonald's PlayPlaces, decorative seats for children's birthday parties and bibs, though only Ronald McDonald, Birdie, Grimace, the Hamburglar and the Fry Kids appear in them. They also appeared on some soft drink cups until 2008 and still appear as [[cookie]]s in pouches titled "McDonaldland Cookies".

McDonald's CEO [[Jim Skinner]] defended Ronald McDonald, and said that he is "here to stay".<ref name="Jim Skinner CEO"/> Today, the characters still appear on the windows of some McDonald's restaurants. Modern commercials nowadays depict Ronald McDonald alone in real-world situations with children, whether he visits a local McDonald's restaurant or to visit sick children at a [[Ronald McDonald House]]. The other characters still appear: the [[Happy Meal]] box character from the original 1979 Happy Meal Gang was redesigned to be a main character for Happy Meals during the 2010s, during the mid 2010s McDonald's made a [[parody]] [[Hipster (contemporary subculture)|hipster]] version of the Hamburglar portrayed by [[Max Greenfield]],<ref name="Monllos 2015">{{cite web | last=Monllos | first=Kristina | title=Max Greenfield Helps the Hipster Hamburglar Push McDonald's Sirloin Burgers | website=Adweek | date=May 12, 2015 | url=https://www.adweek.com/creativity/max-greenfield-helps-hipster-hamburglar-push-mcdonalds-sirloin-burgers-164683/ | access-date=March 19, 2022 | archive-date=May 17, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220517201236/https://www.adweek.com/creativity/max-greenfield-helps-hipster-hamburglar-push-mcdonalds-sirloin-burgers-164683/ | url-status=live }}</ref> Grimace had a non-speaking appearance in an advertisement for ''[[Monsters vs. Aliens]]'' Happy Meal toys, and also made a cameo in the 2022 McDonald's [[Super Bowl LVI]] commercial with [[Kanye West]], where Grimace is animated and voiced by [[Ryan Reynolds]].<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Holub |first=Christian |title=Ryan Reynolds secretly voiced Grimace in McDonald's Super Bowl ad |url=https://ew.com/tv/ryan-reynolds-secretly-voiced-grimace-mcdonalds-super-bowl-ad/ |access-date=April 20, 2024 |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |date=February 14, 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

[[Funko]] designed several ongoing Pop! Vinyl! figures starting in 2019 representing numerous McDonaldland characters including a line dedicated to The McNugget Buddies, as well as some characters thought to be retconned like Mayor McCheese & Officer Big Mac.<ref name="Allan 2020">{{cite web | last=Allan | first=Scoot | title=EXCLUSIVE McDonald's Funko Pop!s Are BACK (And Available Here) | website=CBR | date=August 3, 2020 | url=https://www.cbr.com/mcdonalds-funko-pops-entertainment-earth/ | access-date=March 19, 2022 | archive-date=March 19, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319054649/https://www.cbr.com/mcdonalds-funko-pops-entertainment-earth/ | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Posted on 2020">{{cite web | author=Posted on | title=Funko Serves Up Nuggets and Fries With More McDonalds Pop Vinyls | website=Bleeding Cool News And Rumors | date=November 16, 2020 | url=https://bleedingcool.com/collectibles/funko-pop-mcdonalds-fry-guys-nuggets/ | access-date=March 19, 2022 | archive-date=March 19, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319054649/https://bleedingcool.com/collectibles/funko-pop-mcdonalds-fry-guys-nuggets/ | url-status=live }}</ref>