By Rob Tokanel, News Staff

A short-lived ad campaign filled some students’ stomachs but left their Facebook friend lists slightly more empty.
Burger King’s recent advertising campaign with Facebook offered users a coupon for a free Whopper, but at a hefty price; delete 10 Facebook friends, all of whom are notified promptly that they’ve been dumped for a tenth of a sandwich.
The promotion was in support of the Angry Whopper, a new version of the company’s popular quarter-pounder featuring spicy onions, jalapenos, pepper jack cheese and a spicy ‘Angry Sauce.’ The retail price of the sandwich, which has been sold in the United States since Jan. 5 and will be available until March 30, is $3.69, which means every axed Facebook friend is worth 37 cents.
After initial success, the campaign ended abruptly Jan. 15 when Facebook decided Burger King’s process of notifying deleted friends violated their privacy rules.
‘After constructive conversations with Burger King and the developer of the application, they decided to conclude their campaign rather than continue with the restrictions we placed on their application,’ a Facebook spokesperson said in an e-mail to The News.
In order to get the Whopper, users had to download the Whopper Sacrifice Facebook Application, where they would select 10 friends to cut from their friend list. After entering a home address, a coupon for one free Whopper was sent to the home of the participant.
Undecided sophomore Edward Johnson said the campaign seemed like a strange idea to him, but that he could see why a lot of people participated.
‘People would do it because they just add people left and right for no real reason, so it wouldn’t matter to them if they had to delete them,’ he said.
The Whopper Sacrifice was responsible for the end of 233,906 Facebook friendships, which translates to more than 23,000 free Whoppers for those who participated. Although the promotion was supposed to end at 225,000 ditched friends, the company had reported in a press release that continuing demand caused them to maintain the offer.
Associate communication studies professor David Monje said the campaign was effective because it required time and participation from a young audience that was able to have fun with it.
‘You have to hear about it, then log on, then you have to install the application and decide who to get rid of, and the whole time, you’re thinking about Burger King,’ he said. ‘They’ve immersed you in their world, and I think that’s why it works.’
Sophomore communication studies major Chris Phaneuf said he had no moral objection to the promotion and would have liked to take advantage of it.
‘I could probably come up with 10 friends that I’m sick of seeing on my news feed anyway,’ he said.’ ‘I could definitely find 10 people who I value less than a Whopper.’
Although a Facebook spokesperson said the campaign would be welcome to continue if the notification process was ended, Burger King has opted instead to discontinue the application all together. Monje said informing the people who were deleted was the greatest asset of the campaign because it spread the word to 10 people for every one that used it.
‘All 10 of those people find out what they’re doing; it’s automatic word-of-mouth communication,’ he said. ‘So it grows ten-fold every time someone does it.’
Still, some people may not have been pleased with being told their friendship was worth so little.
‘I assume [whoever deleted me] would be someone I never talk to on Facebook, but if it was it would really suck and I’d probably be like, ‘okay, I’m only worth a tenth of a burger to you,” Anastasia Farber, a freshman communication studies major, said.
The Whopper Sacrifice is not the only unusual Angry Whopper promotion. Burger King also started a website where users can complete a fill-in-the-blanks ‘Angry-Gram’ that will be e-mailed to a person of their choosing. Upon opening, the recipient is greeted with a cartoon version of the Angry Whopper that bursts from its wrapper to deliver such quips as, ‘You’re more awkward than a nun in a strip club,’ or, ‘You’ve got so much dandruff people could go snowboarding on your shoulders.’
Monje said even though most people took the campaign lightly, the process of putting a low price on an ostensible friendship, especially on a networking platform like Facebook, could be considered irresponsible.
‘I’m not prepared to offer any kind of judgment other than to say it does put in question the morality of an ad campaign that asks you to sell your friends,’ he said.