I feel like in the last couple of years Ronald McDonald has been completely absent from all marketing and just McDonald’s stuff in general. For example the new Minecraft toys just came out and they added a lot of the McDonald’s characters as toys yet Ronald was no where to be seen. I feel like Grimace has kind of taken the spotlight and the Ronald is completely gone.
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Kids just don’t like clowns anymore. They find them scary more than they do joyous.
I think people associate clowns with scary stuff more now.
It’s all Stephen Kings’ fault.
He’s doin adult stuff now
Stephen King pays way better
It’s not illegal for McDonald’s to advertise to children… But It’s starting to go that way. Regulations on advertising junk food to children are getting more strict.
After the sex tape got leaked, investors demanded he be let go.
Why ? Here’s your answer look up on YouTube Ronald McDonald playground slaughter .
Nowadays they’re trying to appeal to adults more so than kids. Ronald and the gang are casualty of that.
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Clowns scary.
Arguably association with Super Size Me.
Grimace is honestly a better representation of how their consumers look
The move away from being “a restaurant for kids” to being more geared towards everyone. Also, the phobia of clowns has been come more widespread.
Ronald Mcdonald is still officially the mascot for the Ronald Mcdonald house charities (which is well known for providing free rooms for the families of hospitalized patients) but I am unsure how commonly the character is actually used.
I think Mcdonalds used to want to appeal to kids and families as their consumer base but has completely changed to commuters and people working nearby the location. Bigger market i guess.
I don’t think it has anything to do with clowns, it’s just adults are less likely to eat solo at a restaurant that is heavily kids branded. They didn’t just get rid of Ronald, all the kids characters have basically been relegated to the happy meal and that’s it.
When I think Ronald McDonald, I know think of the Ronald McDonald House.
I once read an interview with a clown. He said how much he loves his job, how it’s his passion to put on his costume and bring joy to kids.
Then he mentioned how utterly unstable a clowning career is. You might get a few years of good work, build up your business, then some asshole releases a new horror movie and suddenly nobody wants to hire you.
I think about this often.
My memory was that the toys were rarely ever toys of the characters, Ronald or others.
When they did toys of their own characters, the first thing that comes to mind are the chicken nuggets that came with different halloween costumes. The second thing that comes to mind were different food items (burgers, fries, happy meal box) that were transformers (though not very good ones).
And of course most common of all is that they do promotional toys that don’t reflect McDonalds characters/merch at all.
But I can’t really think of a time we ever got a Ronald toy or a Hamburglar toy.
I know someone whose first job in marketing was managing a regional Ronald McDonald, and coordinating his events and appearances.
Not a national one, a regional one. Managing a regional one was a whole different level of success.
I heard online that it coincided with the trend of scary clown pranks that happened a few years ago.
I guess you didn’t hear about his problems. First there was the crack addiction and then some rumors about improper touching of children. They swept him under the rug and made Grimace the face of McDonald’s but now with the midget porn allegations I’m not sure he’s going to be around either. It’ll be the Hamburglar’s turn to take center stage next. Hopefully he doesn’t screw it up.
The 2016 Killer Clown thing during Halloween was the exact time they dumped Ronald Mcdonald.
No coincidence there.
Bc he’s fuckin creepy
He hooked up with that Subway guy Jarred and is now considered suspect.
When I was a little kid back in the early 80s, he made an appearance at an arena where I grew up. But the place was packed and kids were shouting and screaming and no one was paying attention to him while he talked on stage, so I started to cry because I felt bad for him.
Clowns are kind of creepy and weird
I mean if you are still willing to go to that sad grey box and eat their “food,” they probably don’t have to fool around with any clowns or marketing
I want to say by the late 2000s they had started regulating advertising to children a lot more heavily, particularly advertising junk food to kids. McDonald’s as an entire restaurant chain was almost exclusively catering to kids throughout the 90s and 2000s. Now I still regularly see ads for McD’s but the Minecraft tie in is probably the first time I’ve even been vaguely aware of what the current Happy Meal toys are in like 10 years. Granted I’m in my early 30s with no kids so I’m sure this is partially due to more targeted algorithmic advertising.