The great fast-food burger battle is blowing up across social media right now — but this time, the fight is not about patties, toppings, or menu prices. All the buzz centers not on the burgers themselves, but on viral moments featuring the competing chains’ top leaders.
If you’ve missed the chaos, here’s a quick recap: Last weekend, an Instagram clip of McDonald’s CEO and chairman Chris Kempczinski spread like wildfire across the internet, and quickly became a target for widespread mockery. In the video, Kempczinski looks visibly uncomfortable while sampling his company’s newly launched Big Arch burger. He only takes one tiny bite, and repeatedly refers to the menu item as a “product” rather than a burger. “I love this product,” Kempczinski says in the clip. “It is so good.”
Social media users did not hold back in their reactions. “After watching this video, it seems like McDonald’s CEO has never actually eaten McDonald’s before,” one user wrote. Another quipped on Instagram: “This is the best free ad Burger King could ever ask for.” Parody skits recreating the awkward moment keep popping up across platforms, and the flood of mocking memes has been relentless.
McDonald’s long-time rival Burger King — which just announced its first update to its signature Whopper in nearly a decade last week — jumped at the chance to pile onto the viral joke. The chain had already posted a video of its president Tom Curtis testing the revamped Whopper to its official TikTok account the week before, and on Monday, it reposted a cut of the clip highlighting that Curtis took a noticeably larger bite of his burger than Kempczinski took of the Big Arch.
The Battle of the Burgers: A Viral Moment Between McDonald's and Burger King's CEOs
