The McDonald's CEO Tried to Eat a Burger on Camera

Let's talk about the most accidentally honest corporate moment of 2026: McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski posting a video of himself eating the new Big Arch burger and somehow making it look like a hostage situation.

He Called It a "Product." Multiple Times.

Kempczinski posted an Instagram video to hype up the Big Arch McDonald's biggest burger in the US, stacked with two quarter-pound beef patties, three slices of white cheddar, crispy onions, lettuce, pickles, and their new Big Arch Sauce. The caption read: "The Big Arch might be my new go-to lunch order." Great start. Normal thing for a fast food CEO to say.

Then he opened his mouth and things went sideways immediately. He called the burger a "product." Then he called it a "product" again. And again. "I love this product." "It's a delicious product." Sir, you are the CEO of McDonald's. You are holding a burger. It is a burger. You can say the word burger.

The internet immediately latched onto it. One commenter wrote: "It scares me when you call food 'product.'" Another replied: "That's a nice looking product, I'll take two units please." Someone even posted a parody that read: "This food product is so full of various substances. As a human I can certainly derive benefits from this sustenance. I will now let it enter my biological system."

"I Don't Even Know How to Attack It"-The CEO of McDonald's

Before taking his first bite, Kempczinski paused and said on camera, intentionally, in a promotional video "I don't even know how to attack it." He seemed genuinely caught off guard by the crispy onions. He appeared to be encountering this burger for the first time in his life, despite the fact that it had already launched in Ireland, the UK, Australia, Portugal, Germany, and Canada.

Then came the bite. The bite that launched a thousand memes. Viewers widely described it as a polite nibble the kind of bite you take when you're at a dinner party and you're not really hungry but you don't want to be rude. He then held the burger toward the camera and announced: "That's a big bite for a Big Arch."

Imagine making $18,000,000 a year as the McDonald's CEO... and still not being able to hide your disgust for your own 'product. The CEO of a fast food giant looking visibly afraid of a Big Arch is the ultimate anti-marketing campaign; if the boss won't eat it, why should we?

Who Thought This Was a Good Idea?

Here's what makes this so fascinating from a marketing standpoint: someone at McDonald's HQ looked at this footage and said "yes, release this." The whole trend of CEOs doing social media taste tests is supposed to make them look relatable, like they're just regular people who love their company's food. But Kempczinski came to this shoot armed with a background in soap at Procter & Gamble, Pepsi's Non Carbonated Beverages Division, and Kraft Foods. The man has spent his career selling things he presumably doesn't eat for every meal.

The video originally posted on February 3rd and went completely unnoticed. Then the Big Arch launched in the US on March 3rd, the clip started circulating, and within days it had racked up over 3 million views not because people were excited about the burger, but because watching a millionaire in a crisp button down struggle to commit to a single bite is, apparently, very compelling content.

He seemed surprised when he opened the box, like he had never even seen the 'product' in person before. This was the most unnatural thing I've ever seen. We need to see less CEOs doing normal stuff.

And Then Burger King Entered the Chat

Burger King's marketing team saw what was happening and did what any self respecting competitor would do, immediately posted their own video. Burger King President Tom Curtis appeared on camera wearing a "Flame Grilling Since 1954" apron, standing in an actual kitchen, and took an absolutely enormous bite of a Whopper. He nodded. He chewed. He said: "Only one thing missing. A napkin."

The Burger King TikTok was captioned simply: "Thought we'd replay this." They never mentioned McDonald's. They never mentioned Kempczinski. They didn't have to. The video surpassed 2 million views and the comment section basically wrote itself. "He took a decent bite, unlike the McDonald's CEO." "Never once used the word 'product.'" "This marketing is low key genius… they didn't have to mention McDonald's and we all knew." And the most devastating one: "If your burger CEO doesn't look like this when eating a burger, he's not your CEO."

The Takeaway

It's one of the most talked about fast food launches in recent memory, ironically because the man paid $18 million a year to be its biggest cheerleader looked like he was being asked to eat it at gunpoint.

There's a lesson here for every marketing department staffed by people who have never touched a customer: if your CEO is going to eat the food on camera, maybe just maybe, let him practice first. Or at minimum, teach him what the food is called.

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