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Ronald McDonald is a character, created in 1963, to advertise McDonald's restaurant chain. Depicted as a smiling, friendly clown in a village of food-related characters, he appeared in many vignettes creating a safe, pleasant fantasy for children. The highly successful advertising campaign continues to draw in parents who succumb to the pleas of their young children for a Happy Meal or other treats from McDonalds.

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.

Several people work full-time making appearances in the Ronald McDonald costume, (one of the rare exceptions to 'The Code') visiting children in hospitals. There are also several Ronald McDonald Houses, where parents can stay overnight when visiting children in nearby chronic care facilities.

Due to the controversy over fast food, some have likened him to Joe Camel, the former mascot of Camel cigarettes.

Origin and History

First Performances

There are three performers who may reasonably claim to have 'created' the Ronald McDonald, George Voorhees and Terry Teene, (for the creation and first public appearance) and Willard Scott for the first television appearance(although television cameras did capture the George Voorhees performance for local television)

George Voorhees

George Voorhees was a late 20th Century American performer, who performed under various monickers as a clown. He claims to have been the 'original' Ronald McDonald. (A 1963 newspaper clipping from the Valley News (a San Fernando Valley newspaper) identifies George Voorhees as "Ronald Mcdonald" at a "local McDonalds restaurant".)

According to George Voorhees and Terry Teene

In the early part of 1963 George Voorhees co-created (with Terry Teene) the original character and design of American advertising icon Ronald Mcdonald, including costume (featuring "french-fry bag pockets") and facial design, for a hired performance at a local Los Angeles, California area McDonald's restaurant. He was subsequently enjoined from performing as, or exhibiting the likeness of, Ronald Mcdonald in any form.

Willard Scott

Willard Scott (local radio personality who also played Bozo the Clown on WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. from 1959 until 1962) performed using the monicker Ronald McDonald in 1963 on three separate television 'spots' - these were the first 3 television ads featuring the character, whose appearance was substantially similar to the original 'George Voorhees version' as shown in the Valley News.

According to Willard Scott: Though Willard Scott claims to have "created Ronald McDonald", he apparently is referring to his personification of the charcter in the following:

"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 irresistable 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."

(from Joy of Living by Willard Scott)

'The Code' of the Clown

Willard Scott's costume was in several minor ways, (but notably, retaining the 'fast food tray' hat design) different from the George Voorhees version and, as Ronald, his 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 might be considered to not violate the code of non-infringement. McDonald's also changed elements of the character's persona, style, costume and clown face when they adopted the character as a trademark, possibly in deference to The Code, the tradition of clowns to scrupulously avoid copying other clowns' appearance or performance style.

According to McDonald's

McDonalds neither mentions George Voorhees nor claims 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. "

from archive.org: http://web.archive.org/web/20030608223534/http://www.mcdonalds.com/corporate/info/history/history2/index.html

They carefully avoid lying, while refusing to acknowlege the actual creators of the character: George Voorhees received payment for his portrayal, but received no money for his creation of the character, which McDonalds now uses as their most recognizable advertising element.

At present various forms of the name "Ronald McDonald" as well as costume clown face persona, etc. are registered trademarks of McDonald's. McDonalds trains performers to portray Ronald using identical mannerisms and costume as one another, to contribute to the illusion that they are one character.

Television Ronald Mcdonalds

At any given time, there are dozens, or possibly hundreds, of actors retained by McDonald's to appear as Ronald in local 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" Ronald actors.

Willard Scott (1963–1966)
Bob Brandon (1966–?)
King Moody (1970s)
Geoffrey Gulliano (late 1970s to early 1980s)
Joe Maggard (mid-1990s)

Quotes

"I feel badly about what I've done with young people. I was the happy face on something that was horrendous." —Geoffrey Gulliano, 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." —Joe Maggard, former Ronald actor, 2003

[Category:McDonald's characters|McDonald, Ronald], code of non-infringement, McDonald's, monicker, Terry Teene.