But one small, hesitant bite was all it took to turn the launch into a viral punchline, and hand archrival Burger King a chance to do their own spoof at the CEO\u2019s expense. <\/p>\n
In early February, McDonald\u2019s CEO Chris Kempczinski posted a seemingly routine video<\/a> to promote the chain\u2019s new Big Arch Burger\u2014billed<\/a> as a \u201clove letter\u201d to fans after successful tests in several international markets. On camera, Kempczinski showcased what he referred to as the new \u201cproduct,\u201d stacked with two patties and a whopping 1,020\u2011calorie count that amounts<\/a> to roughly two\u2011thirds of an adult\u2019s daily intake.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t even know how to attack it. God, so much to it,\u201d Kempczinski says in the clip. One small nibble later, the chief executive promises viewers he will \u201cenjoy the rest of [his] lunch\u201d off\u2011screen, adding, \u201cthat\u2019s a big bite for a Big Arch.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The innocent taste test went largely unnoticed for weeks until creators began stitching their reactions and flooding social feeds with a storm of memes and satirical posts. \u201cThis man does not eat McDonald\u2019s,\u201d comedian Garron Noone quipped<\/a> in a TikTok video that has racked up over 10 million views. Others commented that the CEO looks more likely to eat a salad than one of his chain\u2019s burgers.\u00a0<\/p>\n Archrival Burger King seized on the moment immediately, posting a 13-second video<\/a> of its president, Tom Curtis, taking a large bite of a Whopper. \u201cThought we\u2019d replay this,\u201d the caption reads. A spokesperson told NBC News<\/a>, \u201cWe can confirm that this video was not created in reaction to anything,\u201d adding, \u201cWhile the timing may seem quick, the video was part of ongoing efforts to spotlight the recently elevated Whopper and Tom\u2019s direct engagement with Guests.\u201d<\/p>\n Other competitors followed suit, with A&W Restaurants<\/a> and Wendy\u2019s<\/a> piling on with their own tongue\u2011in\u2011cheek taste\u2011test spoofs. \u201cThis is what it looks like when you don\u2019t have to pretend to like your \u2018product,\u2019\u201d Wendy\u2019s wrote in a snarky post<\/a> after sharing a video<\/a> of its U.S. President, Pete Suerken, eating a Baconator. The brand even took the burger wars further, announcing a new Chief Tasting Officer<\/a> gig<\/a> and offering a $100,000 salary for anyone to make video reviews\u2014no experience or qualifications required.\u00a0<\/p>\n McDonald\u2019s tried to reclaim the narrative with a winking Instagram<\/a> post of its own, sharing an image<\/a> that read, \u201ctake a bite of our new product,\u201d with the caption: \u201ccan\u2019t believe this got approved.\u201d A McDonald\u2019s spokesperson told Fortune on Thursday, \u201cWe\u2019re glad the Big Arch has everyone\u2019s attention,\u201d adding that early sales of the new burger were \u201cbeating expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n While critics mocked the gimmick, the video earned Kempczinski attention most executives crave: more followers, more visibility, and a viral moment that put McDonald\u2019s squarely in the social spotlight.<\/p>\n McDonald\u2019s Chief Executive Influencer\u00a0<\/p>\n Most CEOs avoid that level of online exposure, but the misstep landed harder because Kempczinski has spent years building his social media presence, while other executives shy away from first-person content or delegate their feeds to social media managers, ghostwriters, and corporate communications teams.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n On LinkedIn<\/a> and Instagram, he routinely shares career advice, taste tests, and leadership lessons in short-form videos that he appears to film from his office at the fast-food giant\u2019s Chicago headquarters. Kempczinski joined<\/a> McDonald\u2019s in 2015 as executive vice president of strategy, business development, and innovation, after senior roles at Kraft Foods, PepsiCo<\/a>, and Procter & Gamble, and then stepped into the CEO role<\/a> in 2019. As the leader\u00a0of the No. 165 Fortune 500 company with $26.89 billion in annual revenue<\/a> in 2025, Kempczinski appears to shoot on an iPhone, making content that feels personal and relatable rather than glossy and overproduced. He has maintained an active LinkedIn presence since 2020<\/a>, growing his platform to over 168,000 followers and has even been recognized with a Shorty Award<\/a> in 2025 for \u201cdemonstrating how authentic leadership content can transform executive communications into community-building moments.\u201d His videos regularly generate hundreds of likes on LinkedIn, and his Instagram posts often earn tens of thousands of views. The Big Arch video, however, is a runaway hit with nearly 11 million views on Instagram, helping to grow his overall followers by 30%, a source told Fortune.\u00a0<\/p>\n Kempczinski\u2019s stumble comes as the modern C-suite, especially the corner office, has quietly turned into a content studio, whether executives like it or not. Today\u2019s CEOs and executives are expected to be always-on creators: posting short-form videos, drafting mini leadership manifestos, and curating personal brands that crowd LinkedIn feeds. It\u2019s an extra task on an increasingly long list of to-dos, and often one shepherded by a small army of social media managers, public relations professionals, and ghostwriters.<\/p>\n Behind the scenes, communications teams often ghostwrite the updates that appear under a CEO\u2019s name. But followers may not realize the \u201cthought leadership\u201d they are applauding was actually written by someone they\u2019ve never heard of. The real challenge is making sure the message still sounds like it was written in the executive\u2019s voice, not the social media manager\u2019s. Some chiefs like Microsoft\u2019s Satya Nadella, General Motors\u2019 Mary Barra, and TIAA\u2019s Thasunda Brown Duckett primarily use LinkedIn to deliver polished product updates, interview highlights, and company kudos, while others like Meta\u2019s Mark Zuckerberg or Tesla\u2019s Elon Musk treat the social platforms they own as their personal broadcast networks, mixing corporate announcements with glimpses into their hobbies, political views, and moods.<\/p>\n Prior to a pivotal 2013 SEC ruling<\/a>, social media was largely uncharted territory for executive communications. The guidance followed an investigation into then-Netflix<\/a> CEO Reed Hastings, who had been accused<\/a> of violating the agency\u2019s selective disclosure rules through a Facebook post, an incident that ultimately led the SEC to clarify how companies could use social platforms to share material information. Now, boards are rewarding executives who cultivate followings before they even consider the corner office. Boston Consulting Group<\/a> emphasizes the importance of a social presence for CEO hopefuls and suggests<\/a> that executives start cultivating a following and demonstrating the ability to represent a company at least five years before they expect to take the top job. That guidance is colliding with a wave of younger faces in the corner office and a historic wave of turnover: in 2025, 168 new CEOs were appointed across the S&P 1500, the highest level since 2010, with 84% stepping into the enterprise CEO role for the first time, according to Spencer Stuart\u2019s 2025 CEO Transitions Report. Incoming CEOs were also younger on average, at 54.4 years old, down from 55.8 the year before.<\/p>\n The growing Fortune 500 digital footprint is no longer just about personal branding; it\u2019s also about building trust. A 2025 U.S. News-Harris Poll survey<\/a> found that 72% of respondents felt disappointed in business leaders, and 82% said the values held by today\u2019s business leaders don\u2019t match those of everyday Americans. Research from FTI Consulting<\/a> similarly found that 92% of professionals say they are more likely to trust a company whose senior leaders are active on social media. Employees also favor a CEO with an online presence. Research from Weber Shandwick<\/a> revealed that 81% of executives believe a visible public CEO profile is essential to a company\u2019s reputation, and more than half say it helps attract and retain top talent.<\/p>\n Dr. Ann Mooney Murphy, a professor of strategic management at Stevens Institute of Technology, has documented<\/a> how social media fosters one-sided \u201cparasocial\u201d relationships that can increase buying intentions and loyalty among customers, employees, and other stakeholders. \u201cPeople get drawn to people, not firms,\u201d Murphy tells Fortune. \u201cYou don\u2019t form parasocial interactions with a company.\u201d<\/p>\n Done carefully, she argues, a CEO\u2019s routine presence on social media can be a mechanism to connect with customers or investors they normally wouldn\u2019t reach. \u201cYou want it to be authentic, because that\u2019s what\u2019s going to draw the attention,\u201d Murphy says. \u201cBut that said, they can really make mistakes, and that can be a problem too.\u201d<\/p>\n When social media backfires<\/p>\n Kempczinski is far from the first fast-food chief executive to discover the hard way that their off-the-cuff remarks can take on a second life across social media.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a 2024 Fortune interview, then\u2011Chipotle<\/a> CEO Brian Niccol flatly denied<\/a> that the chain\u2019s portions were getting smaller and offered a tip: Customers who wanted more food could give crew members a knowing \u201clook\u201d at the line to signal they wanted a bigger scoop. Diners who were already frustrated by \u201cshrinkflation\u201d seized on the comment, which garnered nearly 17 million views<\/a> on Fortune\u2019s TikTok account, as proof that executives were out of touch with rising prices and shrinking portions. The interview, intended to reinforce Chipotle\u2019s image of generosity\u2014big portions are \u201ckind of who we are,\u201d Niccol said\u2014fueled a wave of outrage, and was even cited<\/a> in a class-action lawsuit alleging the company had been dismissive of the customer outrage.\u00a0<\/p>\n By contrast, positioning a CEO in front of a camera during a corporate crisis could help rebuild trust rather than damage a brand. Red Lobster, the once-struggling seafood chain known for enduring an\u00a0$11 million<\/a>\u00a0endless shrimp fiasco, among other mistakes, turned to the charisma of its 36-year-old CEO, Damola Adamolekun, who took the top job after its May 2024 bankruptcy. Chief Marketing Officer Nichole Robillard told<\/a> Campaign that the chain noticed a spike in restaurant traffic after Adamolekun appeared in a February 2025 episode of The Breakfast Club, with one social video<\/a> earning 1.8 million views alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHe came out of that [conversation], and immediately sales started to go up,\u201d Robillard told the publication. The brand has since appointed Adamolekun as its official spokesperson, a role he\u2019s embraced, regularly sharing product launches and videos asking for customer feedback on his personal Instagram and LinkedIn. It\u2019s paying off; Adamolekun told<\/a> the Wall Street Journal in February that sales are up 10% from last year.<\/p>\n The millennial chief executive also actively looks to social media for customer feedback, telling Good Morning America<\/a>: \u201cWe read the comments. My marketing team does, and I do personally,\u201d Adamolekun said. \u201cI read the comments and see what people are saying, and we try to react really quickly to deliver people what they want.\u201d<\/p>\n McDonald\u2019s record-breaking revenues\u00a0<\/p>\n The burger saga comes amid a winning streak for McDonald\u2019s, which recently reported a strong fourth-quarter performance. The chain has doubled down<\/a> on value messaging to cost-conscious diners, and reported that U.S. sales grew at their fastest pace<\/a> in more than two years.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve listened to customers and adjusted along the way with a relentless focus on delivering leadership in value and affordability, and our efforts are working,\u201d Kempczinski said<\/a> during an earnings call on February 11, before his viral social video took hold.<\/p>\n The Golden Arches is also riding high on a soaring stock price, hitting a record high <\/a>of just over $341 on February 27, up nearly 12% year over year. Since Kempczinski took on the CEO role in 2019, the stock has risen 72% under his leadership. The brand is a favorite of billionaire Warren Buffett, whose Berkshire Hathaway<\/a> conglomerate owned roughly 30.4 million shares valued at about $1.4 billion at the end of 1996. But less than just two years later, the Oracle<\/a> of Omaha decided to sell\u2014a mistake that proved costly.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIn particular, my decision to sell McDonald\u2019s was a very big mistake,\u201d Buffett wrote<\/a> in his 1998 letter to shareholders. \u201cOverall, you would have been better off last year if I had regularly snuck off to the movies during market hours.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not the first time the brand faced backlash for a new burger launch. Back in 1996, Fortune chronicled how McDonald\u2019s dedicated an estimated $200 million to a promotional blitz for the Arch Deluxe<\/a>, a quarter-pound hamburger marketed to adults, and promising a\u00a0\u201cgrownup taste.\u201d <\/p>\n The company hosted what Fortune reporter Shelly Branch referred to as \u201cone of the more bizarre corporate ceremonies in recent memory,\u201d featuring an appearance from actress Debbie Allen and a performance by hip-hop group the Village People.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEmployees in attendance, stacked like a Big Mac in a three-story atrium on the company\u2019s Oak Brook, Illinois, campus, were encouraged to break into a silly little dance in celebration of the new Deluxe line of beef, fish, and chicken delights,\u201d Branch wrote. \u201cAt least some of the workers had memorized the dance steps by studying instructional videos the company had supplied weeks before.\u201d<\/p>\n