McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski is going viral on social media for being so unenthusiastic about eating his own burgers.
In a video Kempczinski posted to Instagram on February 3, 2026, the CEO filmed himself eating the new Big Arch burger. Although the post initially went unnoticed, once people online noticed it, they quickly spread the video viral with quips and jokes from the CEO.
The CEO and the Big Burger
After introducing the burger and assuring the audience that he would eat it for lunch later, Kempczynski opened the box and said, “Oh my God,” looking excited.
The excitement was short-lived, however, as he tried to remember all the ingredients in the burger and called it a “product” rather than… food? A meal?
While he technically took a bite of the burger, he barely made up his mind to eat it. Kempczynski took a small bite, seemed to realize for a moment what he was tasting, and then nodded, excitedly describing what he had just eaten as “a big bite from the Gateway Arch.”
Social media has a lot to say
There’s a lot to be said for the McDonald’s CEO’s stiff performance. On X, @MikeBeauvais joked, “Not to let everyone know ‘The Simpsons did it,’ but The Simpsons did it.”
Likewise, @inkedupjayy tweeted: “This is Squid’s first time trying crab cakes
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Others focus on word choice. @evilcassieroll wrote, “When a CEO calls it a product instead of food, you know it has less nutritional value than a napkin.”
Some users took it a step further, explaining that it was the best McDonald’s burger they could offer for the video.
@Nick_TopG tweeted: “It’s even crazier when you consider this was made by a company chef at headquarters. This burger (I mean the product) is better than anything you’ll ever eat at a real McDonald’s and he still wants nothing to do with it.”
Perhaps the most poignant summation came from @RoyalMelanite, who added, “Watching McDonald’s CEO tentatively nibbling on the Gateway Arch like it’s a radioactive item on the dollar menu, calling it a ‘product’ rather than food, is the most unintentionally hilarious endorsement failure since New Coke.”
Reddit users also expressed skepticism. “What moved me was that they No need to upload this”, wrote u/Carosello.
“I thought about this, but then I thought who would tell a CEO ‘we can’t upload it because you’re acting like you’ve never had a burger in your life’?” u/MagnetoWasRight24 replied.
u/Media-consumer101 jokingly questioned whether the CEO was human. They joked, “Is this his first day as a human? Did they use an AI clone (so he didn’t have to actually take a bite)? Does he desperately want people to think he’s the same lizard shard as pre-update Mark Zuckerberg?”
McDonald’s did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment from The Daily Dot.
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