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Mac Tonight
Mactonight

Vital Information
Species: Moon Man
Gender: Male
Character
description:
Man with a crescent moon for a head wearing a black suit and sunglasses
Character information
Appeared in: Has appeared in many TV/print ads for McDonald's in the 1980s

Mac Tonight 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 Mac Tonight", 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 Mac Tonight!" 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 Mac Tonight Come on, make it Mac Tonight!" .

Mac Tonight 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 Mac Tonight and promos for his show during the credits of NBC programming show his face as a moon.

Advertising campaign

BigMac Tonite

The original campaign in the United States included twenty-nine commercials, initially airing from 1986 to 1997. Doug Jones played Mac Tonight in twenty-seven of them. A number of three-inch hard plastic Mac Tonight toys were available in Happy Meals. Mac Tonight also made a cameo in a Big Mac commercial in 1988,

During the late 1980s through the early 1990s, people in Mac Tonight costumes used to greet McDonald's customers, along with people appearing as Ronald McDonald, Grimace and other characters.

Return

In 2007, Mac Tonight 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 Mac Tonight, hey! [Plays a Short Piece on a Saxophone] Chill out, (name of country), McDonald's is 24 Hours Come down to Mac Tonight, -24 Hours 'round the clock. Come on down to Mac Tonight!"


Recently, Taiwan has begun to run Mac Tonight advertisements with Mac speaking Mandarin Chinese. Similarly, Hong Kong has a new commercial featuring the character, in which Mac Tonight is voiced by singer Eason Chan, in order to promote local branches' new 24-hour operation schedule.

Controversy

The Mac Tonight 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 Mac Tonight as a surrogate father for his children when he has to leave go to India

External Links

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