Why did McDonald's decide to ditch the beloved character Captain Crook?
Did he steal one too many fish sandwiches? Did his abrupt 1980s makeover come under fire?
"I can't stop! Two cheeseburgers to gooooooooo…"
"At McDonald's."
We know you have questions about Captain Crook, and we have answers.
Here's everything we know about his disappearance… so far.
Ronald McDonald became known as the smiling face of McDonald's, but let's not forget that
he was just one member of a wild and colorful cast of characters. They all lived together
in a theoretically magical place called McDonaldland. Aside from the never-not
smiling Ronald, there was Mayor McCheese, the Hamburglar, Officer Big Mac, the Evil Grimace,
and the man who currently concerns us, and concerns us greatly: the nefarious Captain Crook.
"Avast! I'll fix it up good!"
"Stop, that's not the way."
"Hold it, I'll put it under arrest."
The characters were developed in 1970 by advertising gurus Needham, Harper & Steers,
and they were reportedly designed to inspire brand loyalty among children.
They certainly inspired a fair share of nightmares among kids who grew up in the era.
As you can clearly see, Captain Crook was a pirate through and through:
With his puffy shirt and lavish purple hat, he gravitated towards a very classic,
very casual pirate look, and as you can see for yourself, he wore it very well indeed. Of course,
he didn't happen to have a peg leg or wear an eyepatch, but hey, nobody's perfect.
"I'll trade you two Big Macs for a Captain Crook!"
"You're not worth it?"
"OH YEAHHHH?!"
When your name's Captain Crook,
you're probably not going to grow up to become a beacon of respectability.
"Woah my…"
"Wow."
"He was searching for a great treasure…"
"Oops, my mistake…"
This particular Captain had a voracious appetite for mischief… a hunger only exceeded by his
love of the Filet-O-Fish sandwich. Well, someone out there had to be eating them.
Without a doubt, Captain Crook hung out with a rough crowd.
First, there was The Hamburglar, who devoted his life to stealing hamburgers and cheeseburgers.
Then there was Evil Grimace; he of the craven and insatiable thirst for milkshakes.
Meanwhile, Captain Crook himself was a force to be reckoned with,
demonstrating with every sly move that one man's fish sandwich is another man's buried treasure.
If Captain Crook looks familiar, it might be because he looks an awful lot like Captain Hook,
the villain in Peter Pan. You know the one we're talking about. The similarities are
impossible to ignore: They both had a penchant for wearing large floppy hats,
velvety red jackets with lace popping out of their collars and cuffs, and of course
the obligatory curly mustaches that are always so fashionable among the villainous pirate set.
"He even walked the plank."
"This seems like a good... arrrgh!"
However, it's worth noting that Captain Crook wasn't missing a hand, unlike the iconic villain
who liked to give Peter Pan such a hard time. We can't help but wonder whether Captain Hook
would've also enjoyed the Filet-O-Fish had he been born into a different era. What do you think?
In the 1980s, McDonald's gave Captain Crook quite the makeover.
"Let's work together and get this boat in the water."
"But first a Filet-O-Fish sandwich."
Seemingly overnight, Captain Crook transformed into a far sillier pirate with a much more
bushy moustache. He looked less like a villain and more like someone's cuddly,
vaguely swashbuckling second uncle.
For reasons we'll probably never understand, the powers that be at McDonald's decided to drop
"Crook" from the pirate's name and he was promptly renamed "The Captain." And instead
of being psychotically obsessed with Filet-O-Fish sandwiches, he spent a good chunk of time enjoying
pleasant lunches with Ronald McDonald or hanging out on his pirate ship's lifeboat. For a minute
back there, it looked like The Captain had finally come into his own… but fate is some cruel stuff.
Sadly, this revamp wasn't enough to save him from a massive overhaul of
the McDonaldland cast of characters in the 1980s. In the middle of the decade,
many beloved residents of McDonaldland were dropped from the chain's advertising campaigns,
including Officer Big Mac, Mayor McCheese, The Professor and yes, Captain Crook.
"It's a different kind of sandwich, and a great treasure."
"How's the story end?"
So why did McDonald's let The Captain go? Perhaps it was a simple and dispassionate
marketing move, or perhaps it was the result of a lawsuit:
In the 70s,Sid and Marty Krofft, the creators of the children's television program HR Pufnstuf,
sued McDonald's. Allegedly, the ad firm Needham, Harper & Steers had approached
them about collaborating on a McDonald's campaign and then never contacted them again.
Well, shortly after that alleged meeting, McDonaldland debuted with its own wild cast
of characters… and this decidedly ragtag crew bore a rather striking resemblance to the HR
Pufnstuf creations. The judge evidently agreed, because The Kroffts ultimately won the case.
We can't help but wonder if the lawsuit influenced McDonald's decision to eliminate several beloved
characters from McDonaldland, including a certain Captain Crook. We've reached out to the pirate
for a statement and will update this story as soon as more information becomes available.
"Ahoy, how about a cheeseburger for me?"
"Oh no Captain Crook. Not 'til you learn to smile."
"Oh really? Watch this!"
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