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Hamburglar Gets Hyper-Real Reboot No One Asked For
McDonald’s character reintroduced with new look.
Who was your favorite McDonald’s character growing up?
The ragtag team of corporate-burger loving yokels didn’t exactly hold the same level of fascination as Barney for my peers and I, but we certainly enjoyed them as children.
Grimace, Officer Big Mac, The McNugget Buddies – there was something for everyone. I mean, even the politically minded among us had Mayor McCheese!
My absolute favorite was always Hamburglar, though. A cherub-cheeked ginger more than willing to rob his friends for their cheeseburgers? Now that’s a man after my own heart.
So it’s with great trepidation that I now revisit my precious childhood memories by weighing in on McDonald’s' decision to reintroduce Hamburglar for a new generation.
This new iteration of the character is decidedly less cartoony. In fact, he kind of just looks like a lacrosse player in his mid-30s who decided to throw on a fedora, a black trench coat and a Zoro mask he picked up at the Dollar Store. He looks like he smells of Axe deodorant.
Maybe it’s just my childhood nostalgia talking, but I’m certainly not the only one who felt underwhelmed. Chalk it up to McDonald’s’ winning streak of late, I guess (heavy, heavy sarcasm).
"We felt it was time to debut a new look for the Hamburglar after he’s been out of the public eye all these years," Joel Yashinsky, McDonald's' vice president of U.S. marketing, told Mashable. "He’s had some time to grow up a bit and has been busy raising a family in the suburbs and his look has evolved over time."
At least he’s not rocking cargo pants. Right, Ronald?
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About the Author
Nick Powills
FollowNick Powills, CFE, founded No Limit Agency in 2008 and serves as Chief Brand Strategist for the Chicago-based firm. No Limit is a full-service communications agency that establishes and elevates brands by bridging Public Relations, Social Media, Marketing, Advertising, Digital, and a lot of creativity, to best strategize well-rounded and successful campaigns for 50+ global franchise brands. By presenting visionary ideas and building real relationships, No Limit is able to create effective media branding strategies to help companies grow. Nick currently leads a staff of writers, media strategists, designers, social media experts and digital producers in an office think-tank where brands are humanized for strong, compelling media stories. Prior to starting No Limit at the age of 27, Nick spent four years working at a franchise PR agency where he mastered the art of building rapport with media outlets and creating newsworthy pitches for earned media placements. He holds a Bachelor of Journalism from Drake University in Iowa.
