As you may already know, our smileys have come a long way in three-and-a-half years. We've essentially gone from to

Quite a leap for a simple emoticon. So it didn't surprise us to learn that another icon - Ronald McDonald - has changed quite a bit over his lifespan. While browsing YouTube over the weekend, we found the original 1963 TV ad that introduced Ronald McDonald. As the story goes, this commercial for a Washington D.C. franchise never aired nationally - McDonald's decided to hire another, thinner actor before they introduced Ronald to a national audience. (If you don't recognize the original actor who played - and created - Ronald, it's Willard Scott.)

Whatever the reason, it was probably for the best. Because quite honestly, the 1963 Ronald McDonald scares the living crap out of us. Take a look:



Two things worth noting:

1) If this ad ran today, no parent would allow their child within 100 yards of a McDonald's restaurant.

2) Buzzsters Joe and Kevin had to tell me that Ronald's magic tray that "keeps (you) well supplied" with burgers, fries and milkshakes is NOT real. As far as either of them know, no one has yet invented a cardboard box that can affix to your belt and constantly supply you with fresh burgers out of thin air. I, of course, was very disappointed to hear this, and I'm now on a mission to find out what fast food-related priorities could have possibly prevented McDonald's scientists from introducing such an amazing tool in the past 44 years. Forty-four years! Only one excuse will be acceptable to me: the scientists have instead been focusing on Ronald's magical hat tray.