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Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Dining / Fat City / Burger

It's time to let Mayor McCheese go, America

Posted by on Tue, Jan 25, 2011 at 9:15 AM

Mayor McCheese has left the building.
  • Mayor McCheese has left the building.

I know some of you have very strong opinions about who should be the mayor of McDonald's. And I'm not talking about those among you who are addicted to FourSquare and informing the rest of us that you are nailing down a Quarter Pounder, again.

I'm referring to the online movement, Bringbackthemayor.com, likely started by someone in Generation X, that is pushing for McDonald's to reinstate Mayor McCheese. But the hamburger-headed overlord of McDonaldland has been retired. It's time to let him go.

Over at our sister blog, Seattle Weekly's Voracious, Jason Sheehan would welcome the return of the iconic 1970s mascot. 

I am not the only person out there with a weird obsession with old-time McDonald's mascots.... It always makes me feel good to know that I'm not the only one out there with these strange obsessions.
The robust McDonald's collectible market (the search term "McDonald's" brings up 56,227 hits on eBay right now) supports Sheehan's argument. But even the most popular mascots eventually get rebranded.

We'll always have questions about Mayor McCheese. How does he get his suit on over that massive burger head? Why would he willingly allow fellow members of his species to be sold and eaten? Why doesn't his head ever decompose? Is it like Super Size Me? What was his relationship to Officer Big Mac, and are they the last two members of a massive burger-headed race?

I've made peace with the idea that I'll never know Mayor McCheese's full story. He'll remain one of the great mysteries of my childhood. And that's exactly how he should stay. Because sometimes when you go digging in the past, you ruin the illusion that a man with a cheeseburger for a head could run an entire land.  

[Image via Michael Bailey]

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