For years, Hamburglar ran around stealing hamburgers, stashing them in his sack, and looking innocently bemused every time he was caught. Until, that is, he disappeared in 2002, according to USA Today. (It’s worth noting that dates are a little fuzzy here, since McDonald’s has never really issued a straightforward statement on what’s going on.
In other words, McDonald’s began downplaying its McDonaldland characters, particularly the Hamburglar. The Hamburglar’s early-2000s banishment may also be tied to controversies surrounding childhood obesity and how McDonald’s Happy Meals could affect kids’ diets.
The Hamburglar is a McDonaldland character who features in McDonald’s commercials. He is a close friend of Ronald McDonald, Grimace, and Birdie.Even though he has always attempted (and failed) to hoard all the hamburgers in McDonaldland for himself, he has always been looked upon as a valued member of the McDonaldland community.
When Hamburglar was in his cherubic, impish, not-at-all-scary incarnation, he most commonly shouted the mysterious, “Robble, robble!” That’s what everyone remembers, but he really did say more than that.
When was the Hamburglar character revised?
Eventually, the character was revised in 1985, when he was given red hair and smoother facial features to make him look more childlike and cartoonish than creepy and menacing.
That’s a lifespan of 30 years for the character, and by the end he was likely starting to seem tired and dated.
The Hamburglar was usually caught in the middle of an act of thievery, or by the end of one of his many in 30-second commercials, but he was never deterred, always returning with another hamburger-snatching scheme. After about 30 years of advertising magic and appearing all over McDonald’s merchandise and at in-store playgrounds, …
McDonald’s has periodically revamped the Hamburglar and his surroundings over the decades, and Captain Crook disappeared after a McDonaldland revamp in the 1980s, Mental Floss reports.
McDonald’s responded to the stock tumble by closing numerous locations and cutting a large swath of jobs, according to CNN. The next year McDonald’s set out to thoroughly and aggressively revamp and rebrand itself and its food.
That all seemed fishier than a Filet-o-Fish to the Kroffts, who sued McDonald’s and advertising firm Needham, Harper & Steers. Per the suit: In 1970, an executive at the ad agency contacted Marty Krofft about creating a campaign for McDonald’s.
Years after establishing Ronald McDonald as its cheerful, kid-friendly mascot and champion of all things hamburger, fries, and shake-related, McDonald’s brought out a nemesis for the clown: the Hamburglar. As the same implies, he was a criminal — although more of a thief than a breaking-and-entering practitioner — helping himself to hamburgers …
When did Hamburglar come back?
Getting rid of them was an attempt to start re-branding, and when Hamburglar was brought back in 2015, he got a complete update in an attempt to keep the nostalgia but create a character that was trendy enough for a new generation.
Until, that is, he disappeared in 2002, according to USA Today.
It’s a 1985 commercial called The Hamburglar Touch, and it’s basically what happens when Hamburglar gets the power to turn everything into hamburgers just by touching things, sort of like a King Midas power we’d really like to have.
They note that this new, almost-hipster Hamburglar was designed to appeal to the age group that’s least likely to go to McDonald’s: the late 20s to early 30s. They also say McD’s may have been onto something with their very, very different take on a classic character.
The new Hamburglar was designed for Millennials . When Hamburglar revealed he’d been living the life of a suburban dad before donning his stripes and mask again for a 2015 ad campaign, responses were mixed (via CNN ). They were extreme, too, with people either saying he was very, very disturbing or weirdly attractive.
While Grimace and some of the other characters remained largely the same, Hamburglar started out pretty different from the lovable little urchin he was in the ’80s. In fact, the earliest version of him was less “child-friendly” and more “call the cops, he’s not supposed to be within 50 yards of a school.”.
Until The Captain disappeared, Hamburglar tended to speak in only a sort of gibberish that no one could understand… except for The Captain, who would usually step in when needed to tell everyone else what was going on with the strange little thief. Without his translator, Hamburglar needed to learn how to speak for himself.
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