# New Jack In The Box Commercial with Ronald McDonald **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 18, 2002, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jack-in-the-box-commercial-with-ronald-mcdonald/124423 "2002-08-18T01:48:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jack-in-the-box-commercial-with-ronald-mcdonald/124423/1 "2002-08-18T01:48:32Z")
Those of you in Jack’s territory must have seen these commercials, if you watch any commercial TV at all. A big truck arrives, Jack steps out and says that now it’s time to take his new and improved burgers to real people and see what they think. So he asks the occupant of the first house he visits for his name, and it turns out to be Ronald McDonald. The thing is, he does kind of look like him. When I’d see those Ronald McDonald commercials as a kid, he seemed to have a wide mouth under all that paint. The lower face of the “Ronald” in the commercial looks much the same, plus 25 or 30 years. Could it be him? ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jack-in-the-box-commercial-with-ronald-mcdonald/124423/2 "2002-08-18T02:21:01Z")
I doubt it. Jack In The Box also has commercials with “Jarod from Subway”, a guy named Jarod shot in front of a subway train, and the “Home of the Voppers” which is shot at the home of the Vopper family complete with Mr Vopper, Mrs. Vopper and Vopper jr. I actually like these ads but I am suprised that McD’s, Subway and Burger King haven’t sued yet. Slee ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jack-in-the-box-commercial-with-ronald-mcdonald/124423/3 "2002-08-18T02:31:19Z")
Here’s the press release [http://www.jackinthebox.com/pressroom/pressreleases/pr.php?UID=50&Year=2002](http://www.jackinthebox.com/pressroom/pressreleases/pr.php?UID=50&Year=2002) and here’s the commercial [http://www.ads.com/ads/adInfo.jsp?ad\_id=3391&us=657313&pt=0&sr=5](http://www.ads.com/ads/adInfo.jsp?ad_id=3391&us=657313&pt=0&sr=5) this assumes I did it correctly ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jack-in-the-box-commercial-with-ronald-mcdonald/124423/4 "2002-08-18T04:24:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by javaman \* > \*\*The thing is, he does kind of look like him. When I’d see those Ronald McDonald commercials as a kid, he seemed to have a wide mouth under all that paint. The lower face of the “Ronald” in the commercial looks much the same, plus 25 or 30 years. Could it be him? \*\* Well, courtesy of your [fellow Dopers](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=131194), I learned today that the first Ronald McDonald to appear on TV was Willard Scott, in 1963. The guy in the Jack commercial doesn’t look like Willard Scott, but 2002 - 1963 = 39, so that puts it a little out of your date range. ---
**Author:** ![Violet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ebca7d/32.png) [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jack-in-the-box-commercial-with-ronald-mcdonald/124423/5 "2002-08-18T08:13:29Z")
This is probably mentioned in a link above, but the Jack commercial clearly spells the last name _Mac_ instead of Mc. Big difference. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jack-in-the-box-commercial-with-ronald-mcdonald/124423/6 "2002-08-18T19:35:02Z")
We don’t have JITB here,( the only one I remember closed like, 25 years ago ) so I hadn’t seen these commercials. They’re great! That site also had the Jarod one, but not the Vopper one. Anyone got a link to the Voppers? ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jack-in-the-box-commercial-with-ronald-mcdonald/124423/7 "2002-08-18T20:27:10Z")
To get around the possible lawsuits, I’d guess that the two actors are really named “Ronald MacDonald” and “Jared” respectively. ---
**Author:** ![What\_a\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/65b543/32.png) [@What\_a\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_a_1)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jack-in-the-box-commercial-with-ronald-mcdonald/124423/8 "2002-08-18T20:40:59Z")
Do the names MacDonald and McDonald seem alike to you? Guess you aren’t Scots or Irish. ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2002, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jack-in-the-box-commercial-with-ronald-mcdonald/124423/9 "2002-08-18T21:00:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by What a . . \* > \*\*Do the names MacDonald and McDonald seem alike to you? > Guess you aren’t Scots or Irish. \*\* I don’t know if this was directed at me, but my username is the first letter of my first name combined with the first two letters of my last name. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jack-in-the-box-commercial-with-ronald-mcdonald/124423/10 "2002-08-19T06:32:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by What a . . \* > \*\*Do the names MacDonald and McDonald seem alike to you? > Guess you aren’t Scots or Irish. \*\* Er, why shouldn’t they seem alike? They’re simply variant spellings of the exact same name. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jack-in-the-box-commercial-with-ronald-mcdonald/124423/11 "2002-08-19T15:22:41Z")
What **DMC** said. It should be obvious that they searched around and found some guy whose real name is Ronald MacDonald who was willing to shill for Jack. Where exactly is the law suit here? Anyway, there have been all sorts of commercials over the years where competitors have poked fun at one another. Any company moronic enough to sue over something like that would be so slammed by the public relations fallout for having no sense of humor that it wouldn’t even be close to worth it even if they could be victorious in the suit. Haj ---
**Author:** ![cmburns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@cmburns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmburns)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2002, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jack-in-the-box-commercial-with-ronald-mcdonald/124423/12 "2002-08-19T17:18:09Z")
The Ronald MacDonald commercial is pretty funny, but it’s not original. Burger King had a series of commercials maybe 15 years ago featuring the “McDonald” family, talking about how ashamed they were about loving Burger King so much. As mentioned above, BK probably just got a family whose name really was McDonald. On a related topic, 60 Minutes did an story a couple of years back on a restaurant in England called MacDonald’s, named after its owner. I don’t recall the resolution, but the fact that the owner’s name was MacDonald didn’t keep McDonald’s lawyers from coming after him. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jack-in-the-box-commercial-with-ronald-mcdonald/124423/13 "2002-08-21T16:52:36Z")
I hadn’t seen the “Jared from Subway” version when I opened the thread. That would seem to answer my question conclusively. **Earthling** , I always thought that Willard Scott had been one of the many Bozos, not Ronald McD. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jack-in-the-box-commercial-with-ronald-mcdonald/124423/14 "2002-08-21T19:05:35Z")
I am reminded of the movie Coming to America. “They got the Big Mac. We got the Big _Mick_…” ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-jack-in-the-box-commercial-with-ronald-mcdonald/124423/15 "2002-08-21T20:09:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DMC \* > \*\*To get around the possible lawsuits, I’d guess that the two actors are really named “Ronald MacDonald” and “Jared” respectively. \*\* “Jared” is the correct spelling, not “Jarod.” However, Jared Fogle is an actual person and not a character like Ronald is, so that may count as parody.