At a desk in Chicago, under the clean light of an office camera setup, a corporate moment meant to feel casual became something else entirely. In early February, Mcdonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski held up a new burger to the lens, paused, and said, “I don’t even know how to attack it. God, so much to it. ” The bite that followed was small, and the internet did what it does when it senses hesitation.
What happened in the Mcdonald’s CEO burger taste-test video?
It began as a promotional video for the chain’s new Big Arch burger, framed as a “love letter” to fans after successful tests in several international markets. Kempczinski referred to the sandwich as a new “product” and described it on camera as stacked with two patties and carrying a 1, 020-calorie count—roughly two-thirds of an adult’s daily intake.
In the clip, he took what viewers interpreted as a tentative nibble, then promised he would “enjoy the rest of [his] lunch” off-screen, adding, “That’s a big bite for a Big Arch. ” The intended victory lap didn’t land that way once the video’s rhythm—build-up, hesitation, minimal bite—became the focal point rather than the burger itself.
Why did the Big Arch moment go viral—and why did rivals pile on?
The taste test drew little attention at first. Weeks later, creators began stitching their reactions and pushing the clip across social feeds, turning a routine piece of executive content into a meme template. Comedian Garron Noone joked in a TikTok that has more than 10 million views: “This man does not eat McDonald’s. ” Others added their own commentary, suggesting the CEO looked more likely to eat a salad than one of his chain’s burgers.
Competitors quickly treated the moment as an opening. Burger King posted a 13-second video featuring its president, Tom Curtis, taking a large bite of a Whopper. The caption read, “Thought we’d replay this. ” A Burger King spokesperson told News, “We can confirm that this video was not created in reaction to anything, ” adding, “While the timing may seem quick, the video was part of ongoing efforts to spotlight the recently elevated Whopper and Tom’s direct engagement with guests. ”
Other brands joined in. A&W Restaurants and Wendy’s released their own tongue-in-cheek spoofs. Wendy’s shared a video of its U. S. president, Pete Suerken, eating a Baconator and wrote: “This is what it looks like when you don’t have to pretend to like your ‘product. ’” Wendy’s also announced a new chief tasting officer role, offering a $100, 000 salary for someone to make video reviews, with no experience or qualifications required.
The pile-on didn’t just turn the moment into a cross-brand gag; it made the taste test a kind of referendum on executive credibility in public-facing media—especially when the content is staged as “real. ”
Can a viral misstep become a business advantage for mcdonald’s?
Even as the jokes spread, McDonald’s moved to answer in the same language the internet was using: self-awareness. The company posted a winking Instagram image that read, “Take a bite of our new product, ” with the caption: “Can’t believe this got approved. ”
A McDonald’s spokesperson told Fortune on Thursday: “We’re glad the Big Arch has everyone’s attention, ” adding that early sales of the new burger were “beating expectations. ” In other words, the attention—however unruly—was still attention directed at the launch.
The incident also exposed something many corporate leaders try to avoid: uncontrolled visibility. The blowback landed harder because Kempczinski has spent years building a personal social media presence, while other executives often avoid first-person content or delegate their accounts to social media managers, ghostwriters, and corporate communications teams.
On LinkedIn and Instagram, he routinely shares career advice, taste tests, and leadership lessons in short-form videos that appear to be filmed from his office at the fast food giant’s Chicago headquarters. That consistent approach, designed to make a CEO feel accessible, also meant there was an established audience ready to react when a single clip didn’t match the image viewers wanted to see.
In the end, the internet’s verdict was not delivered in boardroom language, but in stitched videos, snarky captions, and imitation bites. Yet the outcome hints at a modern corporate paradox: the more a leader tries to appear authentic on camera, the more the audience becomes a co-author of the brand’s story—sometimes in ways no one can fully script.
Back in that office scene, the camera stayed fixed, the burger stayed centered, and a moment meant to sell a sandwich turned into something bigger: a cautionary tale about visibility, and a reminder that in today’s attention economy, the smallest bite can echo loudest—especially for mcdonald’s.
