Would You Sacrifice 10 Friends for a Whopper? – Learn Social Media by Example

While elaborate campaigns can be great, it is often sufficient to just pull one BRILLIANT idea out of your sleeve.

Burger King did that with “Whopper Sacrifice”, a simple Facebook app that got more buzz and love than 10 elaborate campaigns combined. Here’s how they did it…

The Idea: Sacrifice Ten Friends For a Whopper

The "Whopper Sacrifice" also had a nice interface

Think about it. Which 10 of your Facebook friends are you willing to unfriend for a free whopper? I can think of around a 100.

The idea behind this application is hilarious. Use the Facebook app “Whopper Sacrifice” to delete 10 people from your friends list and get a free hamburger coupon.

“Now is the time to put your fair-weather Web friendships to the test,” the Whopper Sacrifice site explains. “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.”

Oh, what people wouldn’t do for a free hamburger!

Buzz Generated: People are STILL Talking About it

Facebook: During it’s short lifespan, the campaign was used by 20,000 users, meaning that 200,000 friends were unfriended.

Given how different the idea is, as well as the fact that it is actually really funny, you can imagine that the campaign was a success. Unfortunately for everyone involved, Facebook shut it down too quickly over “Privacy concerns.”

People were annoyed when Facebook shut it down

Other people thought it wasn't that ethical

But with that, the campaign got even more PR. Amazingly enough, people are still talking about it.

People are still talking about it almost a year on

People are still talking about it almost a year on

Lessons Learned: Humor is Fail-Safe

From our side, make sure you keep extra spare friends on your Facebook account that you do not care for just in case a similar opportunity knocks :P

No, okay, this campaign offers a lot of lessons:

First, it’s good to take risks with funky ideas, even if they will probably be get shut off by Facebook or any other party. Just try it.

Second, people would do anything for a freebie, even if it’s just a damn Whopper.

Third, humor is really important for something to go viral online. Not that we didn’t already know that.

Fourth, quoting the creator of this campaign, Jeff Benjamin, “People can do the advertising for you if you give them the inspiration and the tools.”