On February 3, McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski posted a video on Instagram where he held up the chain’s new Big Arch burger, marveled at its size, took a careful bite, and called it a “product”—a word that any CEO would use.
His post sat largely unnoticed for three weeks.
Until a comedian in Ireland found it.
On Feb. 25, Garron Noone stitched a reaction on TikTok, and racked up millions of views almost overnight. By February 28, Cat Sullivan’s parody had earned 17 million views on its own. Last week, Burger King’s U.S. president posted himself taking a huge, sauce-smeared bite of a Whopper. A&W followed. Wendy’s followed.
A routine product launch became a global cultural moment, but not a single dollar of paid media made it happen.
How does a three-week-old Instagram post from a Fortune 500 CEO become the internet’s main character overnight? The answer isn’t luck. Here’s how it all works behind the scenes.
Creators win over influencers
Kempczinski was meant to be the influencer in this story. He had the platform, title, and gravitas. But the moment didn’t travel because of him.
It traveled because of a creator, someone who can read an audience and translate a moment into something shareable, who spotted the raw material, and knew exactly what to do with it.
Influencers have audiences. Creators have instincts. The best ones watch a CEO describe his own burger in corporate language and immediately spot the gap between brand ambassador and consumer sensibility. They name the thing everyone is feeling but hasn’t said yet. Then, the algorithm does the rest.
Geography is now irrelevant to this equation. A comedian in a country of five million can ignite a conversation that circles the globe before a brand’s communications team has even had a chance to agree on a response.
Authenticity doesn’t guarantee people will react the way you want
It seems at first glance that Kempczinski made a mistake, and our instinct is to hop on board and enjoy the mockery. Mark Ritson’s opinion is that the higher you rise, the further you get from the product you sell.
