If the saying “all publicity is good publicity” is true, then one fast-food CEO has shaved a couple zeroes off his company’s marketing budget.

McDonald’s president and CEO Chris Kempczinski has been dutifully posting Instagram updates on the company since 2019. He has tens of thousands of followers but has flown mostly under the radar — that is, until he posted a video of himself trying the chain’s new Big Arch burger on Feb. 3.

“Chris K here with … you’ve heard about it. Here it is, The Big Arch,” he starts the video.

“I love this product. It is so good,” he says, showing off the new menu item. He refers to the burger a few times — but only calls it a “burger” twice, opting for “this,” “the product” or “it” instead.

“I’m gonna eat this for my lunch, just so you know,” he says to the camera, awkwardly holding the burger. “Here we go, first, holy cow. God, that is a big burger.”

The Big Arch features two quarter-pound beef patties, white cheddar cheese, crispy and slivered onions, pickles, lettuce and Big Arch sauce (which mixes mustard, pickle and sweet tomato flavors), on a sesame and poppyseed bun. Kempczinski describes the “product” with not a lot of pizzazz, noting that he sees crispy onions “kind of coming out.”

‘All right, the moment of truth,” he says, leaning in and taking a very small bite. “That is so good. That’s a big bite for a Big Arch.”

Calling the burger both “distinctively McDonald’s” and “unlike anything else” on its menu, the CEO compliments the Big Arch in vague terms, saying it’s “got sort of the cheeses and the gooeyness” but also crispy onions.

“And, of course, we’ve got the pickles,” he says, without elaboration. “So, uh, I’m gonna enjoy the rest of my lunch, but Big Arch, try it when you can get it.”

Weeks Later, a Comedian Roasted the Clip

For a while, the video sat unnoticed on Kempczinski’s account — until Irish musician, comedian and influencer Garron Noone roasted the video on TikTok on Feb. 25.

“So, I’ve just seen a video of the McDonald’s CEO, eating a McDonald’s, and it’s probably the funniest f—ing thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” he says before playing the clip.

“Yeah, give me two burger product, please,” Noone jokes, garnering millions of views in the process. “This man does not eat at McDonald’s. He looks like he would try and read the ingredients on the back of a banana.”

In another parody from Feb. 28, comedian Cat Sullivan plays the CEO but moves more like C-3PO. She pretends to eat the meal in front of her while projecting a palpable reluctance to taste anything.

“We tested this on humans, and they love it,” she says in a collared shirt and sweater like Kempczinski’s, in a video with over 17 million views.

Then, the Comedic Floodgates Opened

From there, the CEO’s comments secton was flood with tons of jokes at his expense:

  • “Is the big bite in the room with us?”
  • “He acts like he’s never seen a burger before. Impressed by sesame seeds 😂”
  • “Yes diva give us nothing 👏”
  • “lots to unpack here”
  • “Bro was not trying to eat that s—”
  • “He’s acting like he’s afraid of it. And just to call it a ‘product.’ it just feels incredibly alien”

Even the head honchos of fast-food chains Wendy’s and Burger King (which just had its own burger-related announcement) chimed in simply by taking bigger bites of their own “products.”

McDonald’s declined to comment to TODAY.com on the viral moment, and Kempczinski also hasn’t commented publicly about it, but McDonald’s social media has been leaning into it on his behalf.

“Take a bite of our new product,” McDonald’s captioned a photo of the Big Arch on Instagram March 3. It also replied to several commenters roasting the company’s leader.

Many accuse the CEO of never having eating a McDonald’s item, but Kempczinski has said he regularly eats his own chain’s grub at least “three to four times a week.”

He also does so quite often on Instagram. To be fair, though, he usually takes bigger bites.