“Ten of your friends were just sacrificed for a Whopper” has been making the rounds through Facebook’s News Feed today. Why?
A new application from Crispin Porter + Bogusky and Toronto-based Refresh Partners called Whopper Sacrifice offers Facebook users the chance to “sacrifice” 10 of their Facebook friends in exchange for a free Whopper coupon. The promotion, which just launched yesterday, has caught on and spread rapidly to tens of thousands of Facebook users throughout the day today.
Crispin Porter and Refresh have made clever use off CSS hacks and iframes to create a “fun” experience around deleting Facebook friends. It’s the first app we’ve seen that makes prominent use of friend removals.

And while normal friend removals happen without a notification being sent to the deleted friend, the Whopper Sacrifice sends deleted friends a note letting them know they’ve “been sacrificed for a Whopper” before they are indeed actually removed from users’ Facebook friend list. (Removed friends are still able to re-initiate friend requests after being removed though.)
The Burger King app is a great example of a simple concept applied to the social graph in a branded way. It may not last forever, but it’s a lot more engaging and meaningful than a banner ad.
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January 9th, 2009 at 4:41 am
[...] via: insidefacebook [...]
January 10th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
I agree w/ you: Banner ads have never, and probably will never work on social networks like Facebook, so it’s about time companies started to think outside the banner and find ways to really add value to a Facebook users experience. Everyone’s got a list of at least 10 that they regret adding, so why not offer a little incentive to get rid of those people? Plus, by calling it a ’sacrifice’, they definitely took some edge off the potentially offensive action. A definite win all around!
My full review - http://thefutureofads.com/2009/01/09/burger-king-lets-people-sacrifice-friendships-for-whoppers/
January 12th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
Great application after I just quikly removed 10 friends and apparently my coupon for a free Whopper should arrive in the mail in 1-2 weeks. Seems that the app violates the Facebook Application Developers Terms of Service. I wouldn’t be surprised if Facebook shuts it down. Too bad since it is the first branded application to stand out in awhile.
January 13th, 2009 at 3:45 am
[...] the Whopper Sacrifice story broke last week, sites like Inside Facebook were applauding Burger King for creating advertising that goes beyond the banner [...]
January 13th, 2009 at 9:01 am
[...] it’s been very successful from an awareness standpoint (Other posts at The Future of Ads, Inside Facebook). What do you [...]
January 14th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
[...] week after the Whopper Sacrifice application made waves for its creative use of Facebook friend removals as a way to spread the app, Facebook has shut it down, according to the [...]
January 14th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
[...] the Whopper Sacrifice story broke last week, sites like Inside Facebook were applauding Burger King for its creative [...]
January 16th, 2009 at 8:39 am
hiiii
May 8th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
[...] I’ll be speaking with a variety of others, including an executive from Crispin Porter + Bogusky (the agency that worked on the infamous Facebook Burger King Whopper Sacrifice campaign). [...]
May 19th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
[...] ninguém. Depois de nos fazer excluir nossos amigos no Facebook para ganharmos 1 hamburguer com Whooper Sacrifice agora a Crispin vai mais longe, e leiloa seus próprios estagiários no Ebay. Isso mesmo, a [...]