Free Whopper promotion dumped by unimpressed Facebook

by Stevie Smith - Jan 16 2009, 13:20

A popular Facebook promotion promising a free burger for anyone prepared to dump 10 friends from their contacts list has been dumped itself after the social networking giant removed the campaign’s application on the grounds of privacy violation.

“We encourage creativity from developers and brands using Facebook Platform, but we must ensure that applications follow users’ expectations of privacy,” explained the social network after pulling availability of the Whopper Sacrifice app.

“This application facilitated activity that ran counter to user privacy by notifying people when a user removes a friend,” added Facebook. “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 establishing on Facebook is maintained.”

Evidently, Facebook’s issue with Burger King’s promotion revolves around dumped friends suffering the humiliation of mandatory notification in order for their removal to officially count towards attainment of a free Whopper. Ordinarily, Facebook policy allows users to dump contacts with complete anonymity.

Created by advertising agency Crisping Porter + Bogusky, the Whopper Sacrifice page application found instant traction with meat-eating Facebook users keen to secure a bargain, notching up the removal of more than 230,000 ‘friends’ in a little less than a week.

Rather than adjust its promotion to fit Facebook’s policy outline, a Burger King spokesperson has said the restaurant chain has instead decided to completely pull the contentious application.

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