Ronald McDonald, a mascot many of us have memories of getting a photo clicked with. How long has it been since you spotted him outside your local McDonald's restaurant? The answer is, around 5 years!
Ronald, one of the world's most iconic mascosts was gradually phased out by McDonalds globally in 2016 because many parts of the world saw spooky and creepy clown sightings. This negative image around clowns was causing much trouble for McDonalds, and so the company decided to let go of him and keep him out of sight for a while. It's 2022, and he's still nowhere to seen. This tells us that a brand needs to be aware of the changing perceptions of different characters and signages and more so adaptable so it can change itself with popular culture to be more relevant in it's communication to it's audience and user base. Nothing is indispensible.
