Hamburglar
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The Hamburglar circa 1970s |
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The Hamburglar circa 1980s |
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The Hamburglar circa 2003 |
The
Hamburglar is a
fictional character used in
marketing campaigns for
McDonald's restaurants. The character was originally introduced as part of the
McDonaldland campaign in
1971, aimed at young children. The character is a
crook known for stealing
McDonald's hamburgers (usually, many at a time). The commercials typically followed the same plotline: the Hamburglar steals McDonald's hamburgers,
Ronald McDonald devises a plan to trick him, and everybody gets their hamburgers back. He dresses in a black-and-white striped shirt and pants, a black cape, and a wide-brimmed hat. His vocabulary consisted of nothing other than, "Robble robble robble." Although he is a thief, he is still considered a friend of
Ronald McDonald and the rest of the McDonaldland gang.
The design of the character changed from the
1970s to
1980s from a more sinister to a more cartoonish face. The age of the character has also changed, as originally he was depicted as an older man, but today is shown as a boy. In addition, his vocabulary has been expanded; he now speaks ordinary English. Despite the changes, he is one of the longest lasting icons of McDonald's advertising campaigns, surpassing many such as
Captain Crook, another thief mainly known for stealing McDonald's
Filet-O-Fish sandwiches.
Today's commercials focus mainly on the
Ronald McDonald character. However, Hamburglar is still one of the core
McDonaldland characters, appearing in the actual restaurants and associated merchandise.
In
Brazil, Hamburglar is known by the name
Papaburguer.
* In
The Simpsons:
** In the episode "
Missionary: Impossible,"
Mr. Burns scolds Homer for recognizing the Hamburglar's birthday as a holiday twice in one week.
** In the episode "
Homie the Clown", the Hamburglar was
parodied as the
Krustyburglar, of the fast food chain
Krusty Burger.
** In Homer Simpsons's chess set, the Pawns are all in the image of the Hamburglar.
** In the episode "
Bart Has Two Mommies," The death of the Hamburglar was announced by
Kent Brockman . It was also stated that he had been survived by his long time partner
Mayor McCheese.
* In satirical newspaper
The Onion:
** The
Hammurderer is a
McDonaldland character that shouted "Stabble, stabble" while slaughtering other characters for their sandwiches. [
1].
**A brief entry discussed the Hamburglar's testimony before Congress regarding conditions within America's prisons. [
2]
*In
SpongeBob SquarePants:
**In the episode "Krabby Land", SpongeBob dresses himself as
The Krabby Patty Burglar.
**In another episode, when SpongeBob attempted to steal Patrick's secret box, he awakened Patrick who exclaimed "It's the
Clamburgler! And he's stealing my secret box!"
*
The King of Town from the popular
Homestar Runner Flash cartoon dressed up as the Hamburglar on a Halloween special.
*Hamburglar is parodied on the
stop-motion animation show
Robot Chicken as the campaign manager to Mayor McCheese who is running against Arnold Schwarzenegger for Califonia governor. He gets his boss out of trouble by shouting "robble, robble" and running off.
*In WWE, it became a running joke that
The Rock would call
The Hurricane "Hamburglar", as he wore green and had "H" written on his chest.
*In the webcomic
The Adventures of Dr. McNinja, there is a scene in issue 3 where
John Basedow steals the McNinja Burgers and shouts "robble robble robble."
*
Hamburglar's Hideout*
Ronald.com
