If you haven't seen the video, take a minute. McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski filmed himself trying the Big Arch — the chain's biggest burger ever, launching nationwide today — and it is, by many measures, a disaster. He sits at a desk, lifts the towering burger like it's a contract he hasn't read, takes a nibble that wouldn't satisfy a toddler, and calls it a "product." Three million Instagram views later, Reddit has declared it "an Alien's first day on earth." Burger King's president, Tom Curtis, posted his own TikTok within days — taking a giant bite of the refreshed Whopper, no script, no desk — and it's already at a million views.

1. Total Disaster for McD (Marketing experts, Adweek, the internet)

The video is corporate cringe at its finest — and Burger King got a free dunk.

Calling your food "product" on camera is a choice. Retail Gazette's analysis was blunt: consumers "reject performance masquerading as personality," and social platforms are "exquisitely tuned to detect insincerity — not malicious insincerity, just stiffness or over-rehearsal." Kempczinski did both. The desk setting, the tiny bite, the corporate vocabulary — it read less like a taste test and more like a hostage video.

Burger King's response was surgically timed. Tom Curtis posted a TikTok of himself biting into the newly refreshed Whopper — new premium bun, creamier mayo — and the contrast was devastating. No script, no "product" talk. Just a guy eating a burger. A million views in two days.

CEOs shouldn't do taste tests. DesignRush explains that CEOs work for "vision, accountability, and big-picture narratives" — not playful demos. The overwhelming majority of Fortune 250 CEOs come from finance or operations backgrounds, not marketing. Kempczinski is a Harvard MBA who came up through P&G and PepsiCo strategy. Of course he said "product." That's his whole brain.

2. Actually, It's Refreshing (Ad Age, contrarian marketing analysts)

A CEO being awkward on camera is more honest than a slick production.

The awkwardness showed authenticity. Ad Age argues Kempczinski wasn't performing. He was being exactly who he is — a finance guy who runs a food company, not a food influencer. The internet wanted a polished performance and got something closer to reality. That's arguably more honest than a focus-grouped, professionally lit food ad where the burger looks nothing like what you'd actually get at a drive-through.

The internet is just so mean. Its cruelty says more about the internet than the CEO. Marketing-Interactive thinks Kempczinski was genuinely trying to engage, and just isn't built for that format. Not every leader needs to be a content creator. The expectation that a CEO of a $200 billion company should also be good at TikTok energy is its own kind of absurd.

3. Forget the Video, Does the Burger Slap? (Food reviewers, business analysts)

Three million views on a CEO's eating style and nobody's asking the actual question.

Reviews are mixed, which is its own problem for a burger that costs up to $10. Sporked called it a more sophisticated sibling to the Big Mac — one that went abroad and came back more refined. The Takeout was less generous, suggesting you skip it and just order a Big Mac. The Impulsive Buy liked the taste but noted that at 1,020 calories and the priciest burger on the menu, it's "firmly in splurge territory."

McDonald's isn't well-suited for a premium burger arms race. Sherwood News framed the gamble: McDonald's pivoted to value and won, and now it's taking a big, beefy risk on the Big Arch. At $8-$10, it's competing with Shake Shack and Five Guys, where people already go for bigger, better burgers. Meanwhile, Shake Shack is going the opposite direction entirely — health-leaning menus, lettuce wraps, GLP-1-compatible options.

Where This Lands

The Big Arch is available today at participating McDonald's, and no one knows if anyone will order it — because of or in spite of the CEO video. What the video did do is crystallize something Americans already sensed: that the people running fast food chains don't eat fast food. Kempczinski isn't a villain — he's a Harvard MBA holding a burger the way you'd hold a fish you caught but don't want to clean. Whether the Big Arch survives the meme cycle depends entirely on whether it's good enough to make people forget how it was introduced.

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