McDonald's entered into discussions with brothers Sid Krofft and Marty Krofft to develop concepts for McDonaldland and its characters based on the merits of their popular Saturday morning show H.R. Pufnstuf (1969). Executives for the fast-food giant told the Kroffts that the campaign had been canceled, but then they used their concepts, wrangled former employees to create costumes and sets, and got H.R. Pufnstuf's head writer/voice artist Lennie Weinrib to provide voices for several characters. The brothers were initially prepared to turn a blind eye until their Pufnstuf characters were suddenly dropped from The Ice Capades in favor of those from McDonaldland. The Kroffts spent years battling McDonald's in court, and they were eventually awarded a million dollars in damages.
For many years, Joe Maggard claimed to have performed as Ronald McDonald from 1995 to 2007, though these dates overlap with the portrayals by Jack Doepke and David Hussey. However in a 2003 article by The Baltimore Sun, a spokesperson for McDonald's said that Mr. Maggard was simply a stand-in for Ronald for one commercial shoot in the mid-1990s, and stated that "he is definitely not Ronald McDonald." Officially making Joe Maggard's claim to be a hoax.
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