MISSING MASCOTS

Ever notice the reduction in illustrated or child-friendly brand icons in shops or fast food chains? Kate Ng asks why once-ubiquitous cartoons seem to have been quietly retired

- Kate Ng

Where in the world is Ronald McDonald? There was a time when the indisputably terrifying burger mascot was everywhere, his bright yellow jumpsuit and shocking red wig ubiquitous at children's birthday parties and in TV adverts. Yet outside of branding for the Ronald McDonald House Charities - and our occasional nightmares – the world’s most famous clown has all but disappeared.

It’s a pattern that’s been replicated all over the supermarket aisle, too. A slew of food mascots firmly associated with millennial and Generation X childhoods have also faded from view. Haven’t you ever wondered what happened to breakfast cereal icons like the Honey Nut Cheerios Buzz Bee or the Golden Nuggets prospector? Or Froot Loops’ Toucan Sam? And where art thou, Uncle Ben?

Ronald McDonald’s vanishing act has been traced to a spate of “killer clown” sightings in 2016, in which morbid pranksters in the US, Canada, Australia and the UK filmed themselves spooking members of the public while dressed in pale makeup, red noses and comically large shoes. The 2017 release of killerclown classic It, based on the Stephen King bestseller, only added fuel to the anti-Ronald fire. McDonald’s was effectively forced into retiring him. But for other mascots, explanations for retirement vary.

Sweet Dreams, an immersive art project by art collective Marshmallow Laser Feast and Factory International, is running at Manchester’s Aviva Studios until 1 September, and tackles this very boom in vanished icons. Told from the perspective of a panicked cartoon mascot named Chicky Ricky (and voiced by the comedian Munya Chawawa), the show revolves around a dying fast-food empire trying to find new ways to market themselves to the public.