8676: McCyber-Clown.

USA TODAY reported on a new cyber-stalking threat to children—Ronald McDonald.

Ronald McDonald is reaching out to kids online

By Bruce Horovitz, USA TODAY

Ronald McDonald is alive, well and raising eyebrows in a new TV campaign that asks kids to download their photos to his website and create photos of themselves with him.

In a nation where kid-targeted fast-food spots have been panned as a cause of childhood obesity, there has been much media speculation that the world’s most famous spokes-clown was disappearing from McDonald’s advertising.

Far from it. Ronald McDonald never did get axed. And in a half-dozen ads to launch over the next several months, he’s a chipper Ronald-in-motion: dancing, playing soccer, shooting hoops — and nudging kids to visit his website and download photos and videos — Ronaldgrams — to share with friends.

“Kids today live in a digital world,” says Dean Barrett, McDonald’s global marketing officer. “You have to speak to kids in a digital language to connect.”

Not everyone’s a fan. “Parents are going crazy trying to deal with the Internet and social networking and their kids,” says advertising and clinical psychologist Carol Moog. “Why would I want my kid to do this?”

But Paul Kurnit, founder of the KidShop consulting firm, says it will be a hit. The No. 1 activity that kids do online is interact with TV properties from their offline life, he says. “Online is where the world is going.”

In one commercial that kicks off April 6 on Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, a chatty Ronald greets folks on the street and poses with them for photos in an empty picture frame that he’s carrying. “You can picture yourself with Ronald at Happymeal.com,” says an off-screen voice. “Ask parents permission.”

One watchdog group says Ronald McDonald is going too far with this campaign.

“I think it’s interesting that the commercials remind kids to ask their parents for permission before going to play with Ronald on the Internet,” says Deborah Lapidus, campaign director of Corporate Accountability International. “If McDonald’s really stands behind its contention that this is an issue of ‘parental choice,’ then why is it marketing directly to kids and not parents?”

But Ronald is more than a spokesman, says Marlena Peleo-Lazar, global chief creative officer. “Ronald’s job is to promote joy, fun and the spontaneity of the brand. He never does a hard sell.”