# Why did all the McDonaldland characters disappear **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 4, 2021, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-all-the-mcdonaldland-characters-disappear/941369 "2021-05-04T13:08:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2024, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-all-the-mcdonaldland-characters-disappear/941369/123 "2024-12-18T04:16:19Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > At that time (~2004), Burger King (in the U.S., anyway) wanted to reshape their tired brand image The Hootie ad I posted right above came out in 2005 (I think), so that fits with this trend of the time. No way any company could do that ad today on cable TV. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2024, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-all-the-mcdonaldland-characters-disappear/941369/124 "2024-12-18T04:20:49Z")
> [@wguy123](#): > > The Hootie ad I posted right above came out in 2005 (I think), so that fits with this trend of the time. No way any company could do that ad today on cable TV. Agreed - that’s definitely a CP&B ad (they were BK’s ad agency from 2004-2011). Note that both the creepy King and the Subservient Chicken have cameos in it. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2024, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-all-the-mcdonaldland-characters-disappear/941369/125 "2024-12-18T04:24:12Z")
Dang - I just rewatched and, yep, they are both there. I do love the Hootie ad though. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2024, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-all-the-mcdonaldland-characters-disappear/941369/126 "2024-12-18T04:25:22Z")
True, and the replacement, McDonald’s Edgelord, was also less fun. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2024, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-all-the-mcdonaldland-characters-disappear/941369/127 "2024-12-18T16:31:24Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > and people basically detest clowns now. Go tell Jack Box, CEO of Jack in the Box. please, I’d sure love to see no more of their commercials. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-all-the-mcdonaldland-characters-disappear/941369/128 "2024-12-20T14:23:28Z")
To be fair, Jack isn’t a typical clown. He’s got a weird, oversized ping pong ball head. Not traditional clown makeup. I was never so much scared by them, just confused. Why do they look like that? Why is that supposed to be funny? I get the oversized clothes and mismatched patterns but the makeup was the thing that threw me. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2024, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-all-the-mcdonaldland-characters-disappear/941369/129 "2024-12-20T17:50:52Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > Why do they look like that? Check out the documentary Killer Klowns from Outer Space. It was marketed as fiction, but that’s because the truth is too dangerous. ---
**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:** [December 21, 2024, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-all-the-mcdonaldland-characters-disappear/941369/130 "2024-12-21T04:45:23Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Go tell Jack Box, CEO of Jack in the Box. please, I’d sure love to see no more of their commercials. I haven’t seen a Jack In The Box commercial for years, and it’s not like I don’t watch TV. That said, I find Jack Box to be a special case due to his history. Many years ago the company ran a series of commercials where they literally blew up the clowns where you would pull up and order. The idea was to appeal to a more grown-up clientele. At the time, a lot of young adults still remembered playing with real jack-in-the-boxes in early childhood, so the overall effect of the mascot was presumably more childish, at least IMO. From there they went to commercials showing a group of cool twenty-somethings who are shown waiting for their “Alpha Leader” to taste the food and pass judgment. Still later they reintroduced the clown as Jack Box, now the company CEO and dressed like an adult exec below the clown head. Now he appeared in more or less adult, if surreal situations. I thought it rather creative, though I have no idea if it was successful. IIRC all of this happened over many years. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2024, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-all-the-mcdonaldland-characters-disappear/941369/131 "2024-12-22T00:54:07Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Still later they reintroduced the clown as Jack Box As a way to distance themselves from [the big _E. coli_ outbreak.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992%E2%80%931993_Jack_in_the_Box_E._coli_outbreak) ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2024, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-all-the-mcdonaldland-characters-disappear/941369/132 "2024-12-22T15:23:16Z")
My ex worked on that case and I saw the photos. They are in my brain forever next to Daniel Pearl. She was horrifically burned and they offered her a laughably pitiful amount. She deserved every penny. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2024, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-all-the-mcdonaldland-characters-disappear/941369/133 "2024-12-22T15:52:03Z")
There’s a difference between “how bad” and “whose fault”. But this is an ongoing argument nobody will concede. Back to PO - Does any remember a very short-lived attempt post-Ronald to be hip and relevant with a character that looked a bit like every generic cool jazz piano player with sunglasses and a crescent-moon for a head, as “Mac Tonight”? Sort of encouraging, I suppose, late night bar hoppers to consider a quick snack on the way home… [![](https://i.redd.it/q20d850rp9z71.jpg) ](https://i.redd.it/q20d850rp9z71.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2024, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-all-the-mcdonaldland-characters-disappear/941369/134 "2024-12-22T16:37:11Z")
Didn’t seem all generic to me, seemed based off of Stevie Wonder… ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2024, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-all-the-mcdonaldland-characters-disappear/941369/135 "2024-12-22T17:10:57Z")
I thought Ray Charles. ---
**Author:** ![pirviii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pirviii/32/3233_2.png) [@pirviii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pirviii)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2024, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-all-the-mcdonaldland-characters-disappear/941369/136 "2024-12-23T05:05:26Z")
That was the time I stood in line with, my mother-in-law at the time, to get an autograph from her favorite NASCAR driver Bill Elliot. He drove the McD car and they had a special Mac the Knife paint job for the race and she bought a Mac the Knife T-shirt for him to sign. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2024, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-all-the-mcdonaldland-characters-disappear/941369/137 "2024-12-23T05:06:53Z")
> [@pirviii](#): > > Mac the Knife Mac _Tonight_; the character’s name was a play on the song “Mack the Knife.” ---
**Author:** ![pirviii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pirviii/32/3233_2.png) [@pirviii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pirviii)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2024, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-all-the-mcdonaldland-characters-disappear/941369/138 "2024-12-23T05:13:29Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Mac _Tonight_; the character’s name was a play on the song “Mack the Knife.” Close enough after all these years. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2024, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-all-the-mcdonaldland-characters-disappear/941369/139 "2024-12-30T22:03:41Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > To be fair, Jack isn’t a typical clown. He’s got a weird, oversized ping pong ball head. Not traditional clown makeup. Do they still have Jack-in-the-Box antenna balls? You can take the head off of a Ken doll and replace it with a Jack ball and you’ll have a Jack Box doll. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-all-the-mcdonaldland-characters-disappear/941369.md?page=6)