The Big Arch Distraction (while the World is Burning)
A CEO took a comically small bite of a burger. The internet erupted. Meanwhile, the US is bombing Iran, Trump is drafting executive orders to seize control of the midterms, and civil unrest is reaching a boiling point. We need to talk about what we're choosing to look at.
[man in a sweater vest](https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/2026/03/mcdonalds-ceo-burger-video-backlash/686246/), a $19-million-a-year man, stands in front of a camera, picking up a burger with both hands, and takes a tentative, hestitant nibble. He calls it a *product*. He says "Holy cow." He shoves it toward the camera as proof of the carnage. He has consumed, by one generous estimate, [2.3% of the burger](https://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/the-mcdonalds-ceo-cant-seem-to-stomach-his-own-burger/). The internet loses its collective mind.
In the same week that video went viral (a full month after it was posted, let that settle) [the United States and Israel launched coordinated airstrikes on Iran](https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/02/middleeast/us-israel-iran-conflict-what-we-know-intl), killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, triggering retaliatory drone and missile attacks across the Gulf, closing airspace from Tehran to Dubai, stranding tens of thousands of travelers, and beginning what Trump himself has predicted will be a [four-week war](https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/02/middleeast/us-israel-iran-conflict-what-we-know-intl).
Both things happened. Which do you think people discuss online more?
There are hydraulics to our collective attention. The way it flows toward the low-pressure zones of absurdity while the high-pressure catastrophes sit there, enormous and unprocessed, waiting for us to come back.
Are we coming back?
## The Product
[McDonald's CEO Chris Kempczinski](https://www.today.com/food/trends/mcdonalds-ceo-eats-burger-video-rcna261776) posted a video to Instagram on February 3rd, over a month ago, of himself taste-testing the chain's new flagship sandwich, the Big Arch. Ad copy would speak of patties, white cheddar, crispy onions, pickles, lettuce. A slop sauce on a sesame-poppy seed bun. A serious burger. A 1,020-calorie undertaking. The kind of thing that requires commitment.
He did not commit.
The video is accidental honesty The man calls the burger "unique," describes the "gooeyness" and "of course, we've got the pickles." Without elaboration, as if the pickles require no further comment, as if their presence is simply a cosmic given, like gravity. Then, he takes a bite so cautious it reads as a man defusing something. He refers to the food as "the product" and "this thing." He declares it "so good." He promises he will be finishing it for lunch.
Then, the fast food CEO arms race began.
[Burger King](https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/mcdonalds-burger-king-beef-ceos-viral-video-rcna261689) posted a video of its president eating a Whopper. [Wendy's U.S. president](https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/mcdonalds-burger-king-beef-ceos-viral-video-rcna261689) followed on LinkedIn. Buffalo
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