{"id":22503,"date":"2026-03-28T08:37:39","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T07:37:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/28\/these-ceos-want-a-starring-role-in-our-lives-and-theres-not-much-we-can-do-about-it-larry-ryan\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T08:37:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T07:37:39","slug":"these-ceos-want-a-starring-role-in-our-lives-and-theres-not-much-we-can-do-about-it-larry-ryan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/28\/these-ceos-want-a-starring-role-in-our-lives-and-theres-not-much-we-can-do-about-it-larry-ryan\/","title":{"rendered":"These CEOs want a starring role in our lives \u2013 and there\u2019s not much we can do about it | Larry Ryan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Do we really need a McDonald\u2019s CEO fronting ads or a Gianni Infantino Panini sticker? No. But in the age of Trump, the boss class feels emboldened<\/p>\n

A few weeks ago, the CEO of McDonald\u2019s appeared in a video<\/a> sampling the chain\u2019s new \u201cBig Arch burger\u201d. In the clip, Chris Kempczinski, or \u201cChris K\u201d as he casually calls himself, labelled it a \u201cproduct\u201d, matching the sterile tone of the review \u2013 all harsh lighting, corporate office backdrop and an awkward man talking and eating while wearing a shirt fitting uneasily under a light wool V-neck.<\/p>\n

Why would McDonald\u2019s, with its huge marketing budget and commercial success, choose to platform this guy? His stilted efforts were mocked and memed, with executives at Burger King and Wendy\u2019s posting their own versions<\/a> \u2013 what fun. Inevitably some market watchers claimed<\/a> it drove engagement and sales. But to me, it seems to be just the latest flagrant example of CEOism: when CEOs\/founders\/heads of organisations centre themselves in the action \u2013 just because they can.<\/p>\n

Larry Ryan is a freelance writer and editor<\/p>\n

Continue reading…<\/a>
\nDo we really need a McDonald\u2019s CEO fronting ads or a Gianni Infantino Panini sticker? No. But in the age of Trump, the boss class feels emboldened
\nA few weeks ago, the CEO of McDonald\u2019s appeared in a video sampling the chain\u2019s new \u201cBig Arch burger\u201d. In the clip, Chris Kempczinski, or \u201cChris K\u201d as he casually calls himself, labelled it a \u201cproduct\u201d, matching the sterile tone of the review \u2013 all harsh lighting, corporate office backdrop and an awkward man talking and eating while wearing a shirt fitting uneasily under a light wool V-neck.
\nWhy would McDonald\u2019s, with its huge marketing budget and commercial success, choose to platform this guy? His stilted efforts were mocked and memed, with executives at Burger King and Wendy\u2019s posting their own versions \u2013 what fun. Inevitably some market watchers claimed it drove engagement and sales. But to me, it seems to be just the latest flagrant example of CEOism: when CEOs\/founders\/heads of organisations centre themselves in the action \u2013 just because they can.
\nLarry Ryan is a freelance writer and editor Continue reading…Technology | The Guardian<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Do we really need a McDonald\u2019s CEO fronting ads or a Gianni Infantino Panini sticker? No. But in the age of Trump, the boss class feels emboldened A few weeks ago, the CEO of McDonald\u2019s appeared in a video sampling the chain\u2019s new \u201cBig Arch burger\u201d. In the clip, Chris Kempczinski, or \u201cChris K\u201d as …<\/p>\n

These CEOs want a starring role in our lives \u2013 and there\u2019s not much we can do about it | Larry Ryan<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":22504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22503"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/costops.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}