Better run and hide, kids! Bozo Ronald McDonald is after you.
Ronald McDonald was born in 1963, when weatherman Willard Scott played the deft-footed dancing clown in a series of television commercials. Scott had previously played Bozo the Clown, of which Ronald McDonald was an obvious rip-off. Since then, Ronald’s popularity has waxed and waned.
Slate magazine put the picture in a collection of the 10 Creepiest Corporate Mascots, but now Fork in the Road has unearthed the original video (technically, a kinescope) of the 1963 commercial, courtesy of ebaumsworld.com. Run and hide, kids!
Thanks to Fork in the Road San Francisco correspondent Tracy Van Dyk for the link.