An effort by McDonald’s to bridge the gap between their higher ups and their customers turned into a majorly viral moment. McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski sat down to try the new McDonald’s Big Arch burger in a February IG video, and fans online have taken the moment and ran with it — even recreating the video themselves.
Kempczinski begins the video praising the new meal, saying, “I love this product, it’s so good.” Then, he takes a super small bite of the colossal burger and proceeds to rave about it. Kempczinski posted the reel on his personal Instagram back in February, but the internet’s strong reaction is a new development. One user commented, “Didn’t even call it food,” while another wrote “Hell nahhh…… if he aint eating it then Neither am I.” Even other fast food restaurants joined in on the pile-on, too — @wingstopcanda commented, “Is the big bite in the room with us?” and @wendys wrote, “lots to unpack here.” Then, @burgerkinguk said, “@chrisk_mcd we couldn’t finish it either.” Her Campus reached out to McDonald’s for comment on the internet’s reaction to the video but didn’t hear back by the time of publication.
Of course, the roasting wasn’t limited to Instagram. TikTokers have taken it upon themselves to recreate their own versions of what they saw while watching Kempczinski try his meal. One user said in their parody, “Hello fellow humans, I’m gonna be trying a McDonald’s burger, just like all you poor c*nts, because it’s real food and it’s yum.” He then acted shocked when he was expected to actually eat it, and spit it out off-camera. He even captioned the video, “POV: that video of the McDonald’s CEO trying a McDonald’s burger and eating it like its toxic waste (it probably is).” There are hundreds of videos like this on social media now, garnering millions of views and likes, and thousands of comments.
The point of contention around Kempczinski and his review seems to be his use of language, referring to the meal as a “product” that has been “tested.” Many of the impersonation videos capitalize on and exaggerate this point in their parodies.
The irony of it all is that even though Kempczinski is getting flamed, bad press is still good press. In order to make these reenactment videos, people are going out to McDonald’s and buying their products. Plus, even those who didn’t make their own parody videos are still seeing the new Big Arch burger all over their For You pages, and as a brand, that’s all you could really ask for.
This is not the first taste-test video Kempczinski has posted, but it’s the first to grab the internet’s attention. Back in July, he posted a video trying the Snack Wrap to celebrate its highly anticipated return. He even posted in October claiming he eats McDonald’s two to three times a week. Whether or not this was an intentional marketing scheme, McDonald’s is succeeding in grabbing customers’ attention.