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The Hamburglar circa 1970s

The Hamburglar circa 1980s

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 thief 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 purple cape, and a wide-brimmed bonnet. Hamburglar was portrayed by actors Frankie Delfino from 1971 to 1991, and Tommy Vicini from 1983 to present. His vocabulary consisted of nothing other than, "Robble, robble, robble." The voice was provided by Howard Morris and other voice actors. Although he is a thief, he is still considered a friend of Ronald McDonald and the rest of the McDonaldland gang, who appear to tolerate his kleptomania as an eccentricity.

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 less sinister young 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. Despite this, there has been recent controversy over the image the Hamburglar presents to children. Specifically, parental organizations have begun to lobby McDonald's for the removal of this character due to the fact that he presents theft as a justifiable means of acquiring sustenance.

In Brazil, Hamburglar is known by the name Papaburguer. In Japan, he is known as "bagaa-san". In Germany, he is known as the "Hamburgerklau". In the UK he is no longer used in any advertising or promotions.

• In The Simpsons:
  • In the episode "22 Short Films about Springfield", Milhouse has to buy a used Hamburglar comic for 75¢ in order to use the restroom in Comic Book Guy's comic book store.
  • 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. Homer, unaware that he was an act, severely beats him up in front of a group of onlooking children.
  • 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, which he denounces as "robble". [2]
• In SpongeBob SquarePants:
  • In the episode "Krabby Land", SpongeBob dresses himself as The Krabby Patty Burglar.
• The King of Town from the popular Homestar Runner Flash cartoon dressed up as the Hamburglar on a Halloween special. He also says at one point, "I'm fit to hamburgle! Robble robble!"
• 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 the WWE, it became a running joke that The Rock would call The Hurricane "Hamburglar", as he wore a mask similar to Hamburglar's.
• 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."
• In episode three of the short-lived cartoon Clerks: The Animated Series, an audience member at a press-conferences asks, 'Will the Hamburglar ever be brought to justice?'

• McDonald's official site