Featured Image Credit: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images/Michael Hickey/Getty Images
Topics: McDonalds, Food And Drink, Crime, UK News, Viral, Weird, Social Media
Tom Earnshaw
Topics: McDonalds, Food And Drink, Crime, UK News, Viral, Weird, Social Media
If you're of a certain age, you'll remember the clownish joy that came with your Happy Meal when your parents would treat you to a Maccies on a weekend trip out.
Ronald McDonald was - nay, is - legendary in popular culture since being introduced to audiences in the 1960s.
The happy-go-lucky mascot of fast food chain McDonald's, everyone recognises the yellow boiler suit man with a white face and red wig. Sounds like enough for a horror film plot when you think about it.
Mates with Mayor McCheese, the Hamburglar, Grimace, Birdie the Early Bird and The Fry Kids, Maccies created the virtual world of McDonaldland where all these smiley characters called home.
It was incredibly clever marketing, alongside the concept of getting a toy with every kid's meal.
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You either loved or hated old Ronnie. Like Marmite, he divided audiences right down the middle.
But he's not really seen any more - cue you thinking about the last time you spotted his red smile in a Maccies.
2016 might be when you remember last seeing him, given McDonald's used the year to start phasing the character out in its franchises.
The reason for this was nothing to do with Ronald himself or Maccies.
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In fact, it was in response to a rather disturbing trend sweeping social media - not you, Mannequin Challenge.
Sadly it was around August 2016 that the grim trend of killer clowns sent the world rather mad for a short period of time.
For those that don't remember or had their head under a rock, it was rather serious trend of people dressing up as sinister looking clowns.
They'd then share photos of themselves looking creepy on to social media. But it took a more sinister turn with people dressing up as them near places such as schools, with incidents reported in the United States, Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom.
The trend first started as a marketing stunt for a horror film that simply got out of hand through no fault of the marketing team itself.
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And things got serious, with a family in Florida attacked by a group of 20 people wearing clown masks.
In the UK, the Sun reported a person in a clown mask who allegedly pulled out a knife and started running after a boy on his way to school.
Police were inundated with calls reporting that people were being tormented by the creepy circus performers.
Pretty much overnight clowns became the bad guys. Once treasured child entertainers, public opinion shifted dramatically.
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Maccies released a statement at the time, which read: "McDonald's and franchisees in the local markets are mindful of the current climate around clown sightings in communities and as such are being thoughtful in respect to Ronald McDonald's participation in community events for the time being."
A statement on the UK McDonalds website also said: "We're afraid that Ronald McDonald no longer appears in McDonald's UK advertising, but he is still very busy working for us.
"He often travels up and down the country to help promote some of our exciting new activities and visits our restaurants to make sure everyone is enjoying their meals."