He disappeared out of our lives so quick , in a flash ....in a cloud of our memories we have. But at one time , this man above was the biggest ICON to us growing up.
As a kid growing up in the 1980s , my parents would tell us about going to McDonald's. To us kids , it was like going to some far away magic land. Where burgers and McNuggets were sold. Plus , oh man ....we could run into Playland and have a fun time too.
The entire restaurant inside looked like it was made to be a kids dream world. One where you could get a Happy Meal and sit at the fun tables. Plus as I said above....PLAYLAND.
The 1980s McDonald's commercials were just TOPS as well. Whoever put them together was really on his game. Because honestly....watch these and tell me you wouldn't wanna go there to eat or hang out ?
The leader of all this merry fun was Ronald McDonald. The clown who would make kids laugh and hand them burgers or stop the Hamburgler from stealing all the burgers ! Ronald McDonald was the icon that stirred it all and growing up he was front and center. In all the advertising and more.
Then in early 2000s , Ronald was phased out. He was sent away due to a guy who spent 30 straight days , 3 meals a day , no exercise eating nothing but McDonalds. Super sizing when asked and watching himself ruin his health in a documentary.
People scrambled to blame something and one of the things they blamed was the advertising to kids and Ronald McDonald. So this had McDonald's decide to bench Ronald and end an era of fun , silly commercials and decide that they had to stop parents from not doing their jobs as parents with junk food.
The past decade McDonald's has taken small steps to bring back characters. The side characters that people grew up with like the Hamburgler. Except the TV advertisement was so creepy , it was pulled within months because they refused to market the character back to kids again.
But even now , we sit and wonder....where have you gone Ronald McDonald ?