When McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski posted a video of himself eating the chain’s new Big Arch burger on Feb. 3, he likely expected a flawless promotional moment. Yet, what he got was one of the most entertaining corporate shitshows and honestly, it deserves every moment of attention that it’s getting.
The clip, posted to Kempczinski’s Instagram, showed the CEO unwrapping the Big Arch. The burger features two quarter-pound beef patties, three slices of white cheddar, crispy slivered onions, pickles and tangy Big Arch sauce on a toasted sesame and poppy seed bun.
He called the burger a “delicious product” before showing the camera the alleged “big bite” and saying how he would finish the rest for lunch.
First of all, if you are going to lie, at least make it believable. I mean, the bite was laughable at best, leading people to question whether he had ever eaten a McDonald’s burger.
For weeks, the video sat quietly on his page. Then on Feb. 25, Irish comedian and influencer Garron Noone roasted it on TikTok, calling the clip “probably the funniest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.” The video exploded, gaining millions of views and turning Kempczinski into an unlikely internet sensation.
The comments wrote themselves.
Viewers pointed out that Kempczinski referred to the burger as a “product” rather than food, with one person sarcastically commenting, “What a delicious product, my fellow humans.” Another said his energy “screams kale salad.”
Even Mini Cooper’s Instagram account jumped in, writing that the car brand was going to start “test driving our cars 1 metre at a time.” At this point, the video had become something bigger than a burger launch; now it was a full cultural moment.
What makes the whole thing so fascinating is that this was not some random executive. Kempczinski literally runs McDonald’s, a company that brought in $26.89 billion in annual revenue in 2025. He has also grown McDonald’s stock 72% since becoming CEO in 2019.
The man knows what he is doing in a boardroom. On camera with a burger in his hand, though, the results were a little less polished and that gap is exactly what made the internet lose its mind.
Burger King moved first among competitors. On March 3, the same day the Big Arch officially launched in the U.S., Burger King President Tom Curtis posted a video taking a large bite of a Whopper, wearing a “Flame Grilling Since 1954” apron while working in the chain’s kitchen.
After finishing, Curtis laughed and said, “Only one thing missing: a napkin.” Burger King captioned the post simply: “Thought we’d replay this.” The contrast could not have been more obvious if they had planned it and the timing was almost too perfect to believe.
Burger King’s spokesperson insisted the video had nothing to do with McDonald’s.
“We can confirm that this video was not created in reaction to anything,” a spokesperson told NBC News.
Sure. Nobody believes you, but the message landed either way.
Wendy’s came with a full production the next day. Wendy’s U.S. President Pete Suerken fired up a grill, pressed down fresh patties and assembled a Baconator from scratch before sitting down to take a proper bite.
He also poured a Frosty and took a dig at McDonald’s long-running struggles with its ice cream machines. Suerken looked directly at the camera and said, “Is this set up today? Oh, wait, our machines are always working.”
That line alone might have been the best moment of the entire saga.
A&W Canada also joined in with a parody video featuring company spokesperson Allen Lulu.
He dressed in an outfit nearly identical to Kempczinski’s. Lulu held up an A&W Teen Burger, called it a “burger product,” described the bun as “unique bread some would call a bun,” and noted the pickles “taste pickly.”
Jack in the Box piled on as well, posting its own burger content across Instagram and TikTok. Every brand that jumped in made the original video funnier in retrospect.
McDonald’s handled the mockery with some self-awareness. On March 3, the brand posted a photo of the Big Arch to Instagram with text reading, “Take a bite of our new product,” and captioned it, “Can’t believe this got approved.”
Burger King UK had already gone directly for the jugular on Kempczinski’s original post, commenting: “We couldn’t finish it either.”
The fact that McDonald’s leaned into the joke rather than going quiet says a lot and there is a difference between a brand that can take a punch and one that crumbles under pressure.
Wendy’s pushed the saga even further by announcing a new “chief tasting officer” position with a $100,000 salary open to anyone willing to make burger review videos on camera, no experience required.
That was the moment the whole thing transcended fast food and turned into pure entertainment. Five major chains, a dozen parody videos and one very small bite, all of it playing out in real time across every platform imaginable.
McDonald’s told The Wall Street Journal that early Big Arch sales were beating expectations, which suggests these moments tend to play out that way.
McDonald’s still succeeded in selling the burger despite Kempczinski nearly ruining everything with that fake ass video and smile. In a media landscape that moves fast and forgets faster, this one was genuinely worth slowing down to enjoy.
