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Here's Why McDonald's Got Rid Of The Iconic Ronald McDonald

Here's Why McDonald's Got Rid Of The Iconic Ronald McDonald

The happy clown was the face of the Golden Arches for decades however a creepy trend saw the company pull him from view.

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie

Growing up before the 2010s, you couldn't help but know Ronald McDonald.

Not personally, obviously, but the man was so inseparable from one of the largest fast food chain restaurants in the world and his character was intrinsically linked to the company's iconography.

However, if you walked into a Macca's now you would be hard pressed to find any whiff he ever existed.

McDonald's certainly didn't let Ronald slowly fade into the shadows in lieu of some newer character. The company was instead forced to retire the famous clown because of a startling reason.

Alamy

If you cast your mind back to 2016, you'll remember headlines related to Donald Trump winning the US Election, drug lord El Chapo being arrested, Leicester City defying 5,000 to 1 odds to win the Premier League and the killer clown craze.

Pictures of terrifying looking clowns in a deserted Wisconsin parking lot started appearing on social media in August 2016 to hype up a horror movie that was meant to drop two years later.

However, the original images were discussed on American news networks and that sparked copycats in other places around the world.

One month after the Wisconsin incident, there were creepy clowns spotted in Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom.

Police were under pressure to crack down on the pranksters, even though it was all seemingly harmless albeit really creepy fun.

It caused fancy dress stores to pull clown outfits from sale and the killer clown craze affected professional clowns and circuses.

Alamy

The craze culminated on Halloween when there were fears there would be a massive outbreak of killer clown violence.

A Florida family was attacked by a group of 20 people in clown masks and The Sun also reports a person in a clown mask pulled out a knife and started running after a boy on his way to school.

As a result of all this terror, McDonald's decided to pull Ronald McDonald as the face of the Golden Arches.

The company said at the time that the 'current climate around clown sightings in communities' means they will remove Ronald as the brand's frontman.

In a statement on the McDonalds website now reads: "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."

Featured Image Credit: Alamy

Topics: News, Interesting