Burger King ‘whopper’ Ad campaign called off

Miami, Florida, January 18: Alluding to confidentiality and privacy concerns, Facebook has put the lid down on the mirthful ‘Burger King Whopper Sacrifice promotion.’

Fast-food chain Burger King had created "Whopper Sacrifice," a Facebook application that entitled a coupon for a free hamburger to whosoever deleted 10 people from his friends list. The sponsorship was restricted to one voucher per Facebook account.

The names so deleted were shown in the activity feed. So one’s account might have read as thus, "Pristine gave up Mariah for a complimentary Whopper."

"Install Whopper Sacrifice on your Facebook profile, and we'll reward you with a free flame-broiled Whopper when you sacrifice ten of your friends,” is what the Whopper Sacrifice site explained.

Well! The outcome was interesting. 82,771 people detached 233,906 of their buddies in less than seven days. Somebody who thinks that true friendship exists and thrives will have to give it a second thought.

Facebook thought that the notification given to the person who has been dumped for a mere hamburger is contravention of privacy for the user.

A statement issued by facebook in this regard said, "We encourage creativity from developers and brands using Facebook Platform, but we also must ensure that applications follow users' expectations of privacy. This application facilitated activity that ran counter to user privacy by notifying people when a user removes a friend.”

It added, “We have reached out to the developer with suggested solutions. In the meantime, we are taking the necessary steps to assure the trust users have established on Facebook is maintained."

“Whopper Sacrifice” was created by Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Burger King’s advertising agency. Facebook users sure had a liking for the campaign and de-friended many.

The reason might be different. For some, it was a real good chance to get rid of disposable friends, people who kind of gate crashed and requested you to be their friends. For others, it was a delicious hamburger, on the house.