We contend that Ronald McDonald has in recent years become a "virtual" leader in McD's. The reimaging of Roanld to be a leader takes place in his ads, games, and especially the films (See Table 2 film plots).
For example, in Scared Silly Ronald turns a map into a door, through which the characters escape a bear; in the Legend of Grimace Island, Ronald turns a model boat into a McYacht and Grimace into a surfboard; in The Visitors form Outer Space, Ronald turns a piece of playground equipment into a rocket ship; in Birthday World, blow pepper into a cloud, making it sneeze and rain, to grow a maze in which the gang can hide; in have Time will Travel Ronald enlarges a burger to the size of a coffin so that the gang can enter ti and be swallowed whole by a T-Rex (a parody of Jonah & the whale biblical story); and in The Legend of McDonaldland Loch, Ronald blows a cloud into the shape of a mother sheep to save Grimace from a flock of pesky lambs. In each film, Ronald embodies more transformational leader qualities; he helps Grimace find courage in Grimace Island, gives Hamburglar moral lessons about fibbing and stealing in The Visitors from Outer Space and Have Time will Travel, helps Birdie learn to keep a secret in The Legend of McDonaldland Loch, and so forth. These are episodes in which Ronald, as the leader of McDonaldland helping his companion develop their self-concept, learns to work as a team, and put off fun in favor of immediate goals. Patterns and fragments of images of Ronald leading his companions are systematically scripted to imitate transformational leader characteristics.