Ronald McDonald
Ronald McDonald is a
clown spokesman for
McDonald's fast-food restaurant chain. According to the book
Fast Food Nation (2001), 96% of school children in the
United States can identify Ronald McDonald. Only
Santa Claus was more commonly recognized.
Many of the restaurants are decorated with a life-size statue of the clown holding out his hand to greet customers at the entrance, and children love to
shake hands with him. Sometimes the figure is sitting on a bench, allowing children to sit next to him or on his lap.
In
television commercials, the clown inhabits a fantasy world called
McDonaldland, and has adventures with his friends
Grimace,
Hamburglar,
Birdie the Early Bird, and
The Fry Kids. In recent years, the somewhat "childish"
McDonaldland has been largely phased out, and Ronald is instead shown interacting with normal kids in their everyday lives.
Many people work full-time making appearances in the Ronald McDonald costume, visiting children in hospitals. There are also
Ronald McDonald Houses, where parents can stay overnight when visiting sick children in nearby chronic care facilities.
Due to the controversy over
fast food, critics have likened McDonald to
Joe Camel, the former mascot of
Camel cigarettes.
McDonald is also officially the "Chief Happiness Officer" of the
McDonald's Corporation.
The original character and design of Ronald McDonald, including facial design and costume (featuring "french-fry bag pockets" and "food-tray hat"), were created by
Terry Teene and
George Voorhees. Voorhees, a professional clown, first portrayed the character for a hired performance at a
Los Angeles,
California McDonald's. The performer was subsequently legally enjoined from performing as, or exhibiting the likeness of, the character in any form.
Willard Scott
Willard Scott (a local radio personality who also played
Bozo the Clown on
WRC-TV in
Washington, D.C. from
1959 until
1962) performed using the
moniker Ronald McDonald in
1963 on three separate television spots. These were the first three television ads featuring the character, whose appearance was substantially similar to the original (George Voorhees)
Ronald Mcdonald (spelled with a lower-case "d") as shown in the
Valley News and Green Sheet, a
San Fernando Valley newspaper of the time.
According to Willard Scott
When Scott claims to have "created Ronald McDonald" (at the time the character had already been portrayed by at least two other actors), he apparently is referring to his
personification of the character in the following excerpt from his
Joy of Living::"At the time,
Bozo was the hottest children's show on the air. You could probably have sent
Pluto the Dog or
Dumbo the Elephant over and it would have been equally as successful. But I was there, and I was Bozo... There was something about the combination of hamburgers and Bozo that was irresistible to kids... That's why when Bozo went off the air a few years later, the local McDonald's people asked me to come up with a new character to take Bozo's place. So, I sat down and created Ronald McDonald."
According to McDonald's website
McDonald's does not mention Voorhees or claim that Willard Scott "created Ronald" in their statement:
"The smile known around the world," Ronald McDonald is second only to Santa Claus in terms of recognition. In his first TV appearance in 1963, the happy clown was portrayed by none other than Willard Scott." [
1]
But on
March 28 2000 Henry Gonzalez, McDonald's Northeast Division President, thanked Scott for creating Ronald McDonald, during a taped tribute to Scott on NBC's "Today" show.
Various forms of the name "Ronald McDonald" as well as costume
clown face persona, etc. are registered trademarks of McDonald's. McDonald's trains performers to portray Ronald using identical mannerisms and costume, to contribute to the illusion that they are one character.
The Code of the Clown
Willard Scott's costume was in several minor ways different from the original
Ronald Mcdonald version (but notably, retaining the "fast food tray" hat design) and, as Ronald, Mr. Scott's
clown face was substantially the same as that of his personification of
Bozo the Clown, a well-known character whose widespread syndication in early television made him the best-known clown character in the United States. Thus, his use of the character may not violate the
clown code.
McDonald's marketing designers and stylists changed elements of the Ronald McDonald's character, persona, style, costume and
clown face when they adopted the clown as a trademark, possibly in deference to
"The Code", the tradition of
clowns to scrupulously avoid copying other clowns' appearance or performance style.
Putting on the Ronald McDonald
clown face is a painstaking process of applied foundation, spirit gum, white base and detail makeup that would sometimes take two hours to apply. Actors are strictly selected by the
McDonald's Corporation and
Leo Burnett Advertising for their ability to project energy, warmth and compassion that reflected the desired brand image. Ronald's wig is usually kept in a freezer before shoots to keep a uniform red look when applied to the actor's head. Ronald's nose prosthetic is made from a wax paraffin mold, modelled from the actor's own nose.Ronald's oversized clown shoes were at times very painful for the actors to wear as they were injected with a special
silicone gel to give them weight and a rubberlike appearance.The modern version of Ronald's costume has inflatable balloons in the pants to make them look oversized. The balloons are adjustable to conform to the actor's posterior.
* The McDonald's Corporation has produced over 2,000 commercials featuring Ronald McDonald worldwide.
* In spring 2004, following the success of
America's Army, a now shelved Ronald McDonald video game was under development. Trying to alleviate the negative brand image of the movie
Super Size Me, the game featured the famous clown teaching kids to learn basic exercise routines and tips for a healthy lifestyle. The game used motion capture technology and the
TrueVision3D game engine. The project was cancelled later on in that year for unspecified reasons.
* McDonald's did release a game for the
NES and IBM PC entitled
M.C. Kids.
* On the set of a
1996 TV advert, Ronald McDonald, played at the time by Jens Hummainbuger, famously threw a plate at the director of the shoot, Liam Shove. In reply Shove attacked a lifesize Ronald McDonald cut-out, thinking that it was Jens.
* Ronald McDonald is never seen promoting the McDonald's salads as the salads are targeted at an older audience, and does not eat any food in the American commercials.
* In
August 2003, Ronald was named McDonald's "Chief Happiness Officer."
* In Japan, Ronald McDonald is known as Donald McDonald.
* In Thailand, Ronald McDonald does not make a handshaking gesture. Instead he has his hands in the traditional Thai "wai" greeting gesture of hands together as if in prayer.
*
Bobby Kielty, an outfielder for the
Oakland Athletics, is nicknamed "Ronnie Mac" for his fluffly red hair.
* In an episode of
Family Guy,
Chris Griffin hallucinates that Ronald McDonald is sitting at the end of his bed. He looks at him and Ronald traces the
Golden Arches with his hands.
The Real Ronald
* Few people know that there is a "REAL" Ronald who is a member of the family that started McDonald's. Ronald Lee McDonald is related to Richard and Maurice McDonald, the sons of McDonald's founders
Dick and Mac McDonald, is a successful businessman, consultant, and author. He currently resides in Tampa, Florida.
* Ronald has been active in the hospitality industry since the beginning of the chain that bears his family's name. He worked the first store in
San Bernadino, California in
1955 on family visits and has continued in the industry for the past 50+ years.
* In
1967, Ronald also became an innovator by designing and building the first Disco in America called "Pandora's Box" in a suburb of Miami, Florida. He went on to open Dave Thomas's first "Wendy's" in South Carolina in Spartanburg and worked to help with the "Western Family Steak House" Chain, The "Ale Haus" and "Villa Inn's Italian restaurants". He has been a Director on Company Boards both in and out of the Hospitality industry.
* Ronald has been active in many aspects of the food industry as Chairman of Dixie Southern Foods, Cottonwood Creek Farms and McDonald Hospitality Group where he maintains an active hospitality consulting business. Ronald is also Chairman of the Inner City Fund a Non Profit Charitable Foundation. He is very active in real estate and real estate investing and is President of Coast to Coast Real Estate, LLC in Tampa, Florida and functions as a licensed Broker, Mortgage Banker and General Contractor in Florida.
* Ronald has authored a number of books including:
** "The Complete Hamburger," Birch Lane Press. This was written with Dick McDonald, the original founder of McDonald's Hamburgers. Dick did the foreword to the book shortly before he died.
** "Ronald McDonald's International Burger Book," Hat's OFF Press
** "Ronald McDonald's Franchise Buyers Guide," Xlibris Press
* In
2003, Ronald was recognized as the "Businessman of the Year" in
Florida* In
2004, Ronald received the "National Leadership Award" from the President's Business Advisory Council and received the "Ronald Reagan Gold Medal" from President
George W. Bush. Henceforth, May 24th is now known as National Ronald Mcdonald Day.
* In
2005, Ronald was appointed to the Chairmanship of the Entrepreneur Mentors, Special Interest Group of Mensa, an organization he is an active member of.
* There were also other Ronalds not connected to the McDonald's hamburger family:
** Ronald McDonald was also the name of the man who won the 1898 Boston Marathon.
** In
November 2005, a story widely reported in the American media involved a man named Ronald MacDonald who had robbed a
Wendy's restaurant. [
2]
Each person does the costume character version of
Ronald McDonald in the
McDonald's Family, Food 'n' Fun chain of
family fun centers located anywhere in the
United States, generally seen walking around the game room and show room for about every 35 minutes. Ronald is allowed to speak, and can imply his intentions with hand gestures. He also comes out to host the
birthday parties for
children, and sings the song
Happy Birthday via the tape.
Ronald McDonald,
Birdie the Early Bird,
Grimace,
Hamburglar, and
The Fry Kids appear in
The Ronald McDonald Show (an
animatronic musical theatre), and on screen from
McTV and the
"Studio M" activity center.
At any given time, there are dozens, or possibly hundreds, of actors retained by McDonald's to appear as Ronald McDonald in restaurants and events. It is assumed, however, that the company uses only one actor at a time to play the character in national television commercials. Following is a list of such primary and secondary Ronald actors.
*
Willard Scott (1963 â€" 1966)
*
Bob Brandon (1966 + )
*
King Moody (1970s)
*
Squire Freidell (after Moody)
*
Geoffrey Giuliano (late 1970s â€" early 1980s)[Giuliano was a local performer in a small market. He was never the national spokesperson for the company.]]
*
Joe Maggard (mid-1990s)
*
David Hussey (2000s, shown in photo above)
*"I feel badly about what I've done with young people. I was the happy face on something that was horrendous." â€"Geoffrey Giuliano, former Ronald actor who later embraced vegetarianism
*"For the last eight years I have documented coercion, threats, intimidation and manipulation by McDonald's and Leo Burnett Advertising against me due directly to my work as Ronald McDonald." â€"Joe Maggard, former Ronald actor,
2003*"All the other actors that I will not mention by name have complained about their Ronald McDonald experiences. I, however, have not had a problem with the McDonald's corporation. It was just a job for me and I got my paycheck every week. This was before the Happy Meal came around, before
Chicken McNuggets became a part of the menu, times back then were very different and you were grateful for what you got. I myself was very satisfied with my work with them and the perks were nothing to cry about either." â€"Bob Brandon, former Ronald actor,
2004.
*
Fast food advertising*
Ronald McDonald House Charities - the official website*
Ronald.com â€" the official website*
TV Acres info about Ronald McDonald*
Ronald L. McDonald's website
