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<blockquote data-quote="kenobi65" data-source="post: 2652054" data-attributes="member: 1515">LOL, that's right...and back then, the &quot;Fry Guys&quot; were called the &quot;French Fry Goblins.&quot;That whole McDonaldland &quot;mythos&quot; was the center of a big intellectual-property lawsuit back in the 1970s.In 1969/1970, one of the hottest kids' shows on Saturday morning TV was &quot;H.R. Pufnstuf&quot;, by Sid and Marty Krofft (who would later go on to do shows like &quot;Lidsville&quot;, &quot;Sigmund the Sea Monster&quot;, and &quot;Land of the Lost&quot;).&nbsp; If you never got a chance to watch Pufnstuf, all I can say is that it was a kid show on acid.&nbsp; (Keep in mind that it *was* the late 60s...)Anyway, McDonald's, and their ad agency at that time, approached Sid and Marty, asking them to put together a proposal for using the characters from &quot;H.R. Pufnstuf&quot; as promotional devices for McDonald's (which was, at that point, just really taking off).&nbsp; The Kroffts put together a detailed proposal, submitted it, and were told, &quot;thanks, but no thanks.&quot;Some months later, McDonald's premiered their &quot;McDonaldland&quot; TV ads, featuring a slew of characters (Mayor McCheese, Grimace, Hamburglar, etc.)&nbsp; The Kroffts saw this, and said, &quot;we've been ripped off!&quot;&nbsp; (Take a look at Mayor McCheese, then take a look at H.R. Pufnstuf...the similarities are pretty clear.)The courts agreed, and awarded the Kroffts a sizeable sum.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="kenobi65, post: 2652054, member: 1515"] LOL, that's right...and back then, the "Fry Guys" were called the "French Fry Goblins." That whole McDonaldland "mythos" was the center of a big intellectual-property lawsuit back in the 1970s. In 1969/1970, one of the hottest kids' shows on Saturday morning TV was "H.R. Pufnstuf", by Sid and Marty Krofft (who would later go on to do shows like "Lidsville", "Sigmund the Sea Monster", and "Land of the Lost"). If you never got a chance to watch Pufnstuf, all I can say is that it was a kid show on acid. (Keep in mind that it *was* the late 60s...) Anyway, McDonald's, and their ad agency at that time, approached Sid and Marty, asking them to put together a proposal for using the characters from "H.R. Pufnstuf" as promotional devices for McDonald's (which was, at that point, just really taking off). The Kroffts put together a detailed proposal, submitted it, and were told, "thanks, but no thanks." Some months later, McDonald's premiered their "McDonaldland" TV ads, featuring a slew of characters (Mayor McCheese, Grimace, Hamburglar, etc.) The Kroffts saw this, and said, "we've been ripped off!" (Take a look at Mayor McCheese, then take a look at H.R. Pufnstuf...the similarities are pretty clear.) The courts agreed, and awarded the Kroffts a sizeable sum. [/QUOTE]

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