Long thought lost, little missed McDonald’s mascot Ronald McDonald is back in the news. Not since back in 2011 when there was a call to retire the use of the character, has the news bothered covering this mascot. And what its covering is his covering: specifically that instead of wearing a yellow jumpsuit, he’s now dressed relatively normally.

God knows why anyone would bother with a change like that. Ronald is, at the end of the day, a clown. That is his triumph or his failure. Either kids ages 3-5 will find him charming because he’s bright, superficially happy and colorful, or they will hate him because he’s a clown and clowns are like adults gone wrong. Dressing business casual instead of in a jumpsuit isn’t going to change that. But at least they didn’t give him some sort of 90s EXTREME outfit.

It’s not Gunaxin’s position that the food McDonald’s serves needs to change portions or anything. It’s up to customers, especially parents to provide themselves and their dependents with a reasonable diet. Ronald is not an unfair way to appeal to children or anything of the kind. If anything, he’s frankly McDonald’s giving itself a handicap to level the playing field.

The real question remains: Why not appeal to their consumers mischievous side and make the Hamburglar their mascot? Or maybe they could go with the Grimace? What is that thing anyways?