Moonman was a mascot introduced by McDonald's restaurants in 1986, The only McDonald's advertising character not to appear in McDonaldland commercials, he was intended to advertise McDonald's late night hours to adults. He had a crescent moon for a head, wore a suit and sunglasses, and was depicted as being a jazzy lounge singer. The name was a play on words of the song "Mack the Knife", made popular in America by Bobby Darin. The song that played over the advertisements, called "It's Moonman", was also a variant on that song, but with McDonald's-themed lyrics, such as those featured in the original 1986 commercial:
"When the stars come out to play, babe A twinkling show, ooh -- dinner! -- out of sight Yeah, the night time is golden light time -- big dipper! At McDonald's (showtime), it's Moonman!" Other lyrics include this set from a 1987 commercial
"When the clock strikes half past six, babe Time to head for golden lights It's a good time for the great taste -- dinner! At McDonald's, it's Moonman Come on, make it Moonman!" .
Moonman no longer appears in commercials in the United States, but pictures and statues of him can still be seen in some McDonald's restaurants.
Talk show host (and onetime McDonald's employee) Jay Leno often makes references to his likeness to Moonman and promos for his show during the credits of NBC programming show his face as a moon.
Advertising campaign
The original campaign in the United States included twenty-nine commercials, initially airing from 1986 to 1997. Doug Jones played Moonman in twenty-seven of them. A number of three-inch hard plastic Moonman toys were available in Happy Meals. Moonman also made a cameo in a Big Mac commercial in 1988,
During the late 1980s through the early 1990s, people in Moonman costumes used to greet McDonald's customers, along with people appearing as Ronald McDonald, Grimace and other characters.
Return
In 2007, Moonman was given a CGI makeover and starred in a new commercial in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and The Philippines. He is no longer seen flying over the earth or a city with a piano, but instead he dances on top of a McDonald's store singing and playing a saxophone.
The lyrics of the advertising jingle are:
"All day and all night, step out for a bite. Oh for treats that delight, --24 Hours a day! Come down to Moonman, hey! [Plays a Short Piece on a Saxophone] Chill out, (name of country), McDonald's is 24 Hours Come down to Moonman, -24 Hours 'round the clock. Come on down to Moonman!"
Recently, Taiwan has begun to run Moonman advertisements with Mac speaking Mandarin Chinese. Similarly, Hong Kong has a new commercial featuring the character, in which Moonman is voiced by singer Eason Chan, in order to promote local branches' new 24-hour operation schedule.
Controversy
The Moonman Moon guy was used to portray a fictional Ku Klux Klanman named Moon Man on YTMND since 2007. Over time more sites about raping mothers and referencing black slaves of the south in the 1800s were being made just to be a shock jock.
Cultural references
On The Simpsons episode "Kiss Kiss Bang Bangalore," Homer uses a cardboard cutout of Moonman as a surrogate father for his children when he has to leave go to India