McDonald's brings back Hamburglar; Twitter lights up

The famed '70s-era burger mascot has been reincarnated as a real person — this time as a suburban dad in a new commercial.

Chicago Tribune
May 7, 2015 at 12:09AM
(Vince Tuss/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

CHICAGO – McDonald's has brought back the Hamburglar. Twitter is not in love.

The famed '70s-era burger mascot has been reincarnated as a real person — this time as a suburban dad in a new commercial for the burger chain's new Sirloin Third Pound Burgers.

Within minutes of the reintroduction, with McDonald's posting a new commercial on Twitter and a story on Mashable.com, social media was abuzz. An hour later, hamburglar was a trending topic on Twitter.

Some say he looks like DJ Calvin Harris. Or the wrestler Repo Man. Several called him "hot." Many have pointed out that he's just creepy.

In an e-mail, McDonald's said the Hamburglar was last seen on national television in 2002 and has been "lying low" since then, until the release of the new Sirloin Third Pound Burgers. A spokeswoman brushed off the Twitterverse's reaction: "I would caution from drawing any conclusions based upon a random sampling of tweets."

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