The Real Reason McDonald's Got Rid Of Ronald McDonald

McDonald's has certainly changed quite a bit since its humble California beginnings in the 1950s, and a great deal of that change has happened just in the last decade or so.

They've removed many of their playgrounds, spent $6 billion on making their restaurants more high-tech and sleeker-looking, and done everything under the sun to create a menu that appeals to fast casual-loving millennials.

One of the more nostalgic aspects of McDonald's that's faded away has been the burger chain's longstanding clown mascot - Ronald McDonald. The absence of Ronald McDonald is bound to split people into two groups.

There are those who will view Ronald's firing from the McDonald's of today as yet another piece of their childhood gone forever. On the opposite side of the coin, are those with more of a "good riddance" attitude about it.

So why, after so many years of promoting Happy Meals, did the Golden Arches finally pull Ronald McDonald from its promotions?

Despite the friendly and fun good nature of Ronald McDonald, 2016 bought some bad press to clowns everywhere that not even the almighty machine of McDonald's wanted to try and fix. Perhaps you remember back in 2016 when there was a rash of really spooky clown sightings across the United States.

Clowns were reportedly chasing motorists with knives, lurking around schools, and otherwise just being real creeps. This wasn't simply something that was causing a stir on internet bulletin boards or Twitter - major media outlets were reporting on rumors of terrorizing clowns.

The whole thing was widespread enough that McDonald's felt the need to officially distance themselves from the worrying news. Spokeswoman Terri Hickey said in a 2016 press statement,

"McDonald's and franchisees in the local markets are mindful of the current climate around clown sightings in communities and as such are being thoughtful in respect to Ronald McDonald's participation in community events for the time being."

While the creepy clown craze might have been the straw that broke the camel's back, it was hardly the only reason McDonald's parted ways with their clown.

Ronald McDonald has been McDonald's main mascot since the 1960s, but his presence was wearing thin before those terrifying clown sightings of 2016. Various watchdog groups had been criticizing Ronald's marketing of unhealthy fast food to impressionable kids for years, drawing comparisons to the long-retired cigarette mascot Joe Camel.

Long before the creepy clown incidents, former CEO Don Thompson attempted to defend Ronald as a mascot, saying in 2014,

"You don't see Ronald McDonald in schools. You don't see him eating food."

Basically, the message seemed to be that Ronald doesn't eat McDonald's food - he just sells it. Many observers thought the defense didn't do much to help Ronald as a mascot, or McDonald's as a place to eat.

That same year, the company redesigned the clown with a cooler, more sophisticated look, but whatever they were shooting for, the rollout was a flop.

McDonald's has been going through a makeover to make its restaurants more appealing to adults for years. The company started this makeover in 2012, and they're still in the process of updating its 5,000-plus locations. This means self-order kiosks, refreshed exteriors, and dining rooms that take inspiration from cafes and coffee shops. But the turn away from the kid-friendly burger joint design is a problem for Ronald, whose loudly-dressed cardboard cutouts don't really fit in with the new modernized aesthetic.

McDonald's could always bring Ronald McDonald back whenever it likes, but these days, if you look through the company's social media accounts you'll see that they're almost totally Ronald-free.

This doesn't mean that Ronald McDonald has been 100 percent erased from the brand. You can still see Ronald McDonald representing the Golden Arches at least one day out of the year in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.

McDonald's has been flying a giant Ronald McDonald balloon in the parade for years and it continued to do so at the parade in 2019. Ronald's parade appearance that year wasn't exactly smooth sailing, though. Poor Ronald suffered a gash in his leg after being blown into a tree branch.

The deflation got so bad that NBC cut away to pre-recorded footage from an old parade to save Ronald the embarrassment. Watch the video to learn The Real Reason McDonald's Got Rid Of Ronald McDonald!

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