McDonald’s CEO Leans Into Viral Video

McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski explains his mini-bite viral video and other challenges facing the company.

Kempczinski boldly agreed to a Wall Street Journal video interview, and he handles the discussion well, at times laughing about it. Directly addressing why he took what looked like a tiny bite of the new Big Arch burger, he explained:

I blame it all on my mom because she said, don’t talk with your mouth full, and I think probably, in that case, I should have said, you know what, to hell with it, I’m gonna talk with my mouth full.

What he says makes sense for the original promotional video, and he does speak with his mouth full during this video after taking a human-sized bite of a French fry.

However, for the original video, he obviously didn’t think through the possibilities of editing (which, as I pointed out, removed a crumb from his lip). A too-full mouth of food could have been omitted.

Kempczinski humanizes himself, mentioning that he first learned about the viral video from his kids. As in his other videos, he sounds authentic—like his genuine self—and speaks about the competitive market and rising costs as we would expect a CEO to do.