Blogpost 7: Ronald McDonald

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The "Ronald McDonald" clown brand is the public face of the fast-food chain McDonald's. The idea was brought up in San Bernardino, California by Dick and Mac McDonald of Manchester, New Hampshire. It was converted and broaden by their business colleague, Ray Kroc, of Oak Park, Illinois, who subsequently purchase out the business interests of the McDonald brothers in the concept and went on to establish McDonald's Corporation.

As I was planning to associate clown with the food, I turned out with the fast food chain, McDonald’s which uses a clown public figure. And there I found an article entitled, “Down on the Clown” by Raj Patel in the site, “Raj Patel" McDonald’s caught my attention not because of the food that they offer but because I was very curious about their clown. Have you also wonder why they use clown as their image? Knowing that during their time, the fear of clown had started.

When Bozo the Clown went off air in 1963, no one would have imagine the small-town television persona would soon become the most noted clown in the world. But McDonald’s change Bozo into Ronald McDonald, and by linking its corporate representation to a fun-loving clown, McDonald’s gains a fantastic amount of positive public concerns.

Ronald McDonald is the cheerful clown that you sometimes encounter when you go to McDonald's. He is on the television, on a lot of their promotional merchandise such as toys and he's even on some of McDonald's packaging. So what does the man that wears like a clown and works for McDonald’s really do? Sometimes he go to children parties and offer out lots of presents, he makes celebrations more enjoyable and let the grown ups loosen up. He also allots money to children who are in need - he looks very pleasing, very friendly and very certain.

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Ronald is not an ordinary clown. He’s not just a front runner in the food business for children: “he’s also an architect”. Excluding him, the food scheme that we have today would be very different. Everywhere, the way food is captivated, subsidized, created and eaten has been made by the demands of the McDonald’s corporation.

But the other side of Ronald McDonald was revealed. As what the author said, “Ronald is more of a Hamburgler, dipping into our pockets with our children’s fingers, and leaving us with bills for long afterward.” Ronald is a various type of clown. When he contributes money to a school, it is always for the objective of obtaining McDonald's more coverage and advertising McDonald's to children and their family.

Later on, sending Ronald to retirement is a prominent issue. An article

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entitled, ”Junk food foes to McDonald's: Retire Ronald!” written by Ben Rooney in the site, “CNN Money”. The article focuses on the issue about Junk Foods in which Ronald plays a big part in influencing children to eat those foods. 

Children as early as the ages of two to 19 years old are obese, and since

then, the obesity rate among children of those ages has nearly tripled. Apparently, childhood obesity is an epidemic. Do fast food businessmen take part of the blame?


Ronald McDonald’s selling to kids is no less than commercial usage, more and more, professional and health organizations are going on tabulation about

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their enterprise as well. What’s most doubtful is that the control of children in this case shows not only into a child’s favorable impression of Big Macs and Chicken McNuggets, but into their consuming of unwholesome amounts of each.

With the growing support for moving back that clown, it feels like that it is an opening for McDonald’s to moved him on his disposition to retirement. Using one of the most known brand mascots in the world to market food high in fat and calories to children, the most open group to advertising in society, is definitely not worthwhile.


Clowns’ objective is usually to entertain people. But there are clowns whose objective is to encourage and pursued people for/to something. They might/can influence people but it still depends on how people are going to deal with it. Are you going to allow those people to influence them? or Are you going to live on what they truly believe?