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McDonald’s has decided to add a new item to its menu in the form of a burger that’s been dubbed the “Big Arch.” The company’s CEO tried to hype up the addition in a video where he ate one for lunch, and while he was certainly able to drum up some attention, he largely did so at his own expense thanks to viewers who found the taste test a bit unnerving.
Most people who end up being hired as the CEO of a massive multinational operation land that role due to their business acumen as opposed to their passion for the products or services the company they’re tasked with overseeing sells to the masses.
There are certainly exceptions to that rule. It goes without saying that someone who serves as the CEO of the company they founded is usually going to be truly invested in what they offer, and it’s also possible for someone who was primarily hired on the strength of their MBA and résumé to form a similar personal attachment.
That second set of factors seems to have been the biggest reason Chris Kempczinski was tapped to serve as the CEO of McDonald’s in 2019, a job he was promoted to four years after the veteran of corporate America joined the company. There is also a chance he’s genuinely a fan of the fast food they offer, but many people are skeptical he’s as high on the new “Big Arch” burger as he claimed to be in a video where he tasted it for himself.
The CEO of McDonald’s got dragged over an odd video where he conducted a taste-test of the new “Big Arch” burger
On March 3rd, McDonald’s will be giving customers in the United States the chance to order the “Big Arch,” the new burger that is being marketed as the biggest one it has ever offered in America.
What is being initially positioned as a limited-time offering boasts two quarter-pound beef patties, three slices of white cheddar cheese, crispy and slivered onions, pickles, lettuce, and Big Arch sauce (described as a mix of “mustard, pickle and sweet tomato flavors”) sandwiched between a bun that features both poppy and sesame seeds.
It’s one of the more ambitious rollouts McDonald’s has undertaken under the watch of Chris Kempczinski, who has served as its CEO for close to seven years.
The man who is also listed as the company’s president had previously spent time in the soap division at Procter & Gamble, overseen Pepsi’s “Non Carbonated Beverages Division,” and worked as a higher-up at Kraft Foods. That meant he had plenty of experience when it came to peddling edible products, but it seemed like his business know-how was the main reason he got the nod.
Kempczinski obviously got to try the Big Arch before it was unleashed upon the masses, and at the start of February, he sat down for a video where he filmed himself eating it for lunch while singing its praises.
It didn’t get a ton of attention at first, but that’s changed over the past few days as it made the rounds online with the help of people who’ve been oddly captivated by the strange vibes emanating from a clip where he refers to the burger as a “product,” takes a laughably small bite for someone who claims to love it, and sits behind a container of fries that magically fills back up halfway through the review.
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If there’s truly no such thing as bad publicity, this could end up working out for “Chris K” and the company he runs. I have a hard time believing that going viral for the reasons he has served as the onus for the video, but if the goal was to make more people aware of the Big Arch who wouldn’t have been otherwise, it’s a pretty big success.