However one small, hesitant chew was all it took to show the launch into a viral punchline, and hand archrival Burger King a likelihood to do their very own spoof on the CEO’s expense.
In early February, McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski posted a seemingly routine video to advertise the chain’s new Huge Arch Burger—billed as a “love letter” to followers after profitable checks in a number of worldwide markets. On digital camera, Kempczinski showcased what he known as the brand new “product,” stacked with two patties and a whopping 1,020‑calorie depend that quantities to roughly two‑thirds of an grownup’s each day consumption.
“I don’t even know the best way to assault it. God, a lot to it,” Kempczinski says within the clip. One small nibble later, the chief govt guarantees viewers he’ll “take pleasure in the remainder of [his] lunch” off‑display, including, “that’s a massive chew for a Huge Arch.”
The harmless taste test went largely unnoticed for weeks till creators started stitching their reactions and flooding social feeds with a storm of memes and satirical posts. “This man doesn’t eat McDonald’s,” comic Garron Noone quipped in a TikTok video that has racked up over 10 million views. Others commented that the CEO appears extra more likely to eat a salad than one in every of his chain’s burgers.
Archrival Burger King seized on the second instantly, posting a 13-second video of its president, Tom Curtis, taking a giant chew of a Whopper. “Thought we’d replay this,” the caption reads. A spokesperson informed NBC Information, “We are able to verify that this video was not created in response to something,” including, “Whereas the timing could seem fast, the video was a part of ongoing efforts to highlight the just lately elevated Whopper and Tom’s direct engagement with Company.”
Different opponents adopted swimsuit, with A&W Eating places and Wendy’s piling on with their very own tongue‑in‑cheek taste‑test spoofs. “That is what it appears like if you don’t must fake to love your ‘product,’” Wendy’s wrote in a snarky put up after sharing a video of its U.S. President, Pete Suerken, consuming a Baconator. The model even took the burger wars additional, asserting a new Chief Tasting Officer gig and providing a $100,000 wage for anybody to make video critiques—no expertise or {qualifications} required.
McDonald’s tried to reclaim the narrative with a winking Instagram put up of its personal, sharing a picture that learn, “take a chew of our new product,” with the caption: “can’t imagine this received accepted.” A McDonald’s spokesperson informed Fortune on Thursday, “We’re glad the Huge Arch has everybody’s consideration,” including that early gross sales of the brand new burger had been “beating expectations.”
Whereas critics mocked the gimmick, the video earned Kempczinski consideration most executives crave: extra followers, extra visibility, and a viral second that put McDonald’s squarely within the social highlight.
McDonald’s Chief Govt Influencer
Most CEOs keep away from that stage of on-line publicity, however the misstep landed tougher as a result of Kempczinski has spent years constructing his social media presence, whereas different executives draw back from first-person content material or delegate their feeds to social media managers, ghostwriters, and company communications groups.
On LinkedIn and Instagram, he routinely shares profession recommendation, taste checks, and management classes in short-form movies that he seems to movie from his workplace on the fast-food big’s Chicago headquarters. Kempczinski joined McDonald’s in 2015 as govt vice chairman of technique, enterprise improvement, and innovation, after senior roles at Kraft Meals, PepsiCo, and Procter & Gamble, after which stepped into the CEO position in 2019. Because the chief of the No. 165 Fortune 500 firm with $26.89 billion in annual income in 2025, Kempczinski seems to shoot on an iPhone, making content material that feels private and relatable somewhat than shiny and overproduced. He has maintained an lively LinkedIn presence since 2020, rising his platform to over 168,000 followers and has even been acknowledged with a Shorty Award in 2025 for “demonstrating how genuine management content material can remodel govt communications into community-building moments.” His movies repeatedly generate lots of of likes on LinkedIn, and his Instagram posts typically earn tens of 1000’s of views. The Huge Arch video, nevertheless, is a runaway hit with almost 11 million views on Instagram, serving to to develop his total followers by 30%, a supply informed Fortune.
Kempczinski’s stumble comes as the trendy C-suite, particularly the nook workplace, has quietly changed into a content material studio, whether or not executives prefer it or not. Right now’s CEOs and executives are anticipated to be always-on creators: posting short-form movies, drafting mini management manifestos, and curating private manufacturers that crowd LinkedIn feeds. It’s an additional process on an more and more lengthy checklist of to-dos, and infrequently one shepherded by a small military of social media managers, public relations professionals, and ghostwriters.
Behind the scenes, communications groups typically ghostwrite the updates that seem beneath a CEO’s title. However followers could not notice the “thought management” they’re applauding was truly written by somebody they’ve by no means heard of. The actual problem is ensuring the message nonetheless sounds prefer it was written within the govt’s voice, not the social media supervisor’s. Some chiefs like Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Common Motors’ Mary Barra, and TIAA’s Thasunda Brown Duckett primarily use LinkedIn to ship polished product updates, interview highlights, and firm kudos, whereas others like Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg or Tesla’s Elon Musk deal with the social platforms they personal as their private broadcast networks, mixing company bulletins with glimpses into their hobbies, political opinions, and moods.
Previous to a pivotal 2013 SEC ruling, social media was largely uncharted territory for govt communications. The steering adopted an investigation into then-Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who had been accused of violating the company’s selective disclosure guidelines by way of a Fb put up, an incident that in the end led the SEC to make clear how firms may use social platforms to share materials info. Now, boards are rewarding executives who domesticate followings earlier than they even take into account the nook workplace. Boston Consulting Group emphasizes the significance of a social presence for CEO hopefuls and means that executives begin cultivating a following and demonstrating the flexibility to signify a firm at the least 5 years earlier than they anticipate to take the highest job. That steering is colliding with a wave of youthful faces within the nook workplace and a historic wave of turnover: in 2025, 168 new CEOs had been appointed throughout the S&P 1500, the best stage since 2010, with 84% moving into the enterprise CEO position for the primary time, in keeping with Spencer Stuart’s 2025 CEO Transitions Report. Incoming CEOs had been additionally youthful on common, at 54.4 years outdated, down from 55.8 the 12 months earlier than.
The rising Fortune 500 digital footprint is now not nearly private branding; it’s additionally about constructing belief. A 2025 U.S. Information-Harris Ballot survey discovered that 72% of respondents felt disillusioned in enterprise leaders, and 82% mentioned the values held by right now’s enterprise leaders don’t match these of on a regular basis Individuals. Analysis from FTI Consulting equally discovered that 92% of pros say they’re extra more likely to belief a firm whose senior leaders are lively on social media. Workers additionally favor a CEO with a web-based presence. Analysis from Weber Shandwick revealed that 81% of executives imagine a seen public CEO profile is important to a firm’s fame, and greater than half say it helps appeal to and retain high expertise.
Dr. Ann Mooney Murphy, a professor of strategic administration at Stevens Institute of Expertise, has documented how social media fosters one-sided “parasocial” relationships that may improve shopping for intentions and loyalty amongst clients, staff, and different stakeholders. “Individuals get drawn to folks, not companies,” Murphy tells Fortune. “You don’t type parasocial interactions with a firm.”
Carried out fastidiously, she argues, a CEO’s routine presence on social media may be a mechanism to attach with clients or buyers they usually wouldn’t attain. “You need it to be genuine, as a result of that’s what’s going to attract the eye,” Murphy says. “However that mentioned, they will actually make errors, and that may be a downside too.”
When social media backfires
Kempczinski is much from the primary fast-food chief govt to find the arduous means that their off-the-cuff remarks can tackle a second life throughout social media.
In a 2024 Fortune interview, then‑Chipotle CEO Brian Niccol flatly denied that the chain’s parts had been getting smaller and provided a tip: Prospects who needed extra meals may give crew members a understanding “look” on the line to sign they needed a larger scoop. Diners who had been already annoyed by “shrinkflation” seized on the remark, which garnered almost 17 million views on Fortune’s TikTok account, as proof that executives had been out of contact with rising costs and shrinking parts. The interview, supposed to strengthen Chipotle’s picture of generosity—massive parts are “type of who we’re,” Niccol mentioned—fueled a wave of concern, and was even cited in a class-action lawsuit alleging the corporate had been dismissive of the shopper outrage.
In contrast, positioning a CEO in entrance of a digital camera throughout a company disaster may assist rebuild belief somewhat than harm a model. Purple Lobster, the once-struggling seafood chain identified for enduring an $11 million infinite shrimp fiasco, amongst different errors, turned to the charisma of its 36-year-old CEO, Damola Adamolekun, who took the highest job after its Could 2024 chapter. Chief Advertising and marketing Officer Nichole Robillard informed Marketing campaign that the chain seen a spike in restaurant visitors after Adamolekun appeared in a February 2025 episode of The Breakfast Membership, with one social video incomes 1.8 million views alone.
“He got here out of that [conversation], and instantly gross sales began to go up,” Robillard informed the publication. The model has since appointed Adamolekun as its official spokesperson, a position he’s embraced, repeatedly sharing product launches and movies asking for buyer suggestions on his private Instagram and LinkedIn. It’s paying off; Adamolekun informed the Wall Road Journal in February that gross sales are up 10% from final 12 months.
The millennial chief govt additionally actively appears to social media for buyer suggestions, telling Good Morning America: “We learn the feedback. My advertising staff does, and I do personally,” Adamolekun mentioned. “I learn the feedback and see what individuals are saying, and we attempt to react actually shortly to ship folks what they need.”
McDonald’s record-breaking revenues
The burger saga comes amid a profitable streak for McDonald’s, which just lately reported a robust fourth-quarter efficiency. The chain has doubled down on worth messaging to cost-conscious diners, and reported that U.S. gross sales grew at their quickest tempo in additional than two years.
“We’ve listened to clients and adjusted alongside the best way with a relentless deal with delivering management in worth and affordability, and our efforts are working,” Kempczinski mentioned throughout an earnings name on February 11, earlier than his viral social video took maintain.
The Golden Arches can be driving excessive on a hovering inventory value, hitting a document excessive of simply over $341 on February 27, up almost 12% 12 months over 12 months. Since Kempczinski took on the CEO position in 2019, the inventory has risen 72% beneath his management. The model is a favourite of billionaire Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway conglomerate owned roughly 30.4 million shares valued at about $1.4 billion on the finish of 1996. However much less than simply two years later, the Oracle of Omaha determined to promote—a mistake that proved pricey.
“Particularly, my determination to promote McDonald’s was a very massive mistake,” Buffett wrote in his 1998 letter to shareholders. “Total, you’d have been higher off final 12 months if I had repeatedly snuck off to the films throughout market hours.”
It’s not the primary time the model confronted backlash for a new burger launch. Again in 1996, Fortune chronicled how McDonald’s devoted an estimated $200 million to a promotional blitz for the Arch Deluxe, a quarter-pound hamburger marketed to adults, and promising a “grownup taste.”
The corporate hosted what Fortune reporter Shelly Department known as “one of many weirder company ceremonies in latest reminiscence,” that includes an look from actress Debbie Allen and a efficiency by hip-hop group the Village Individuals.
“Workers in attendance, stacked like a Huge Mac in a three-story atrium on the corporate’s Oak Brook, Illinois, campus, had been inspired to interrupt into a foolish little dance in celebration of the brand new Deluxe line of beef, fish, and hen delights,” Department wrote. “Not less than a number of the staff had memorized the dance steps by finding out educational movies the corporate had provided weeks earlier than.”
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