Did you even know that the McDonald’s restaurant chain had stopped using Ronald McDonald as their mascot? I admit that I hadn’t even noticed. The clown is so ubiquitous in popular culture that I didn’t miss his presence at any of the burger joints I visited, and is so “over” (wrestling term) that it’s really irrelevant that McDonald’s has stopped using him. He’s bigger than the company that sired him, even if that company wants to pretend that it has “outgrown him”.
But *why* did they decide to stop using Ronald? Was it for some stupid politically correct reason? (I do realize that using “stupid” and “politically correct” is redundant.) Because the SJWs accused him of making little kids fat? That might have had something to do with it. It probably did. But the spate of creepy clown sightings a few years ago played a part in the decision, too, especially in England. So is coulrophobia to blame for the franchise shelving its mascot? John Wayne Gacy didn’t so much as put a dent in Ronald McDonald’s public image back in the day. Has Pennywise succeeded where the real-life serial killer failed? Or have people just gotten stupider in the years since? (Yeah, we don’t even need to answer that one, do we?)