The "Whopper" - A Social Sacrifice

In January 2009, Burger King decided to implement a "Whopper Sacrifice" Campaign. This campaign came in the form of a Facebook Application, whereby Facebook users could choose to delete, or "sacrifice" ten friends in exchange for a free Whopper sandwich. Normally Facebook handles deleting friends discretely, but Burger King decided to go in another direction. Every time you sacrifice a friend, it is published in your news feed, along with a humorous message that is sent to each of the deleted friends that informed them that they were abandoned for a free hamburger.


These notifications clashed with Facebook's privacy issues, which led to the eventual demise of the Burger King app after only one week. However, this short period allowed time for the campaign to spread; The application was used by over 82,000 users, who deleted nearly 240,000 friends.

Although I named this campaign a "hit", I can't help but have mixed feelings about the campaign. On the one hand, notifying the deleted friends helped BK spread their message virally, but I can't help but wonder whether or not negative feelings developed for the brand by those deleted. Sure, they are sending the message that the "Whopper" is so fantastic that it takes precedence over your actual friends, but I'm not convinced. From a marketer's perspective, I think it's a great strategy. However, from a consumer's perspective, BK went a little too far on this one.

Sources:
http://techcrunch.com/2009/01/14/facebook-blows-a-whopper-of-an-opportunity/