Ditch 10 Facebook friends, get a free sandwich. Good marketing strategy?

[Sir Jam]

In the last month, the Burger King folks have drawn the attention and ire of the blogosphere—and generated a boatload of free press—for their catchy, if somewhat bizarre, advertising tactics. And they've just done it again. (Yes, we're begrudgingly complicit.)

First, BK came out with a "meat-scented cologne" called Flame that, alas, smelled nothing like meat. Then there was the controversial TV ad campaign in which Whoppers and Big Macs were taken to far-flung corners of the planet and given to wide-eyed denizens to taste test. Guess which burger won.

Now, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, the advertising firm behind BK's campaigns, has created a Facebook application called "Whopper Sacrifice." How does it work? Drop 10 friends from the social networking site in exchange for a free Whopper coupon. (The rejected friends then get a message telling them they've been sacrificed for a sandwich.)

Is it wise to promote a product by attracting one customer while potentially alienating 10 others?



"It's all meant as tongue-in-cheek," said Tia Lang, director of media and interactive for Burger King. "I mean, if I had 300 friends, there are probably 10 or so people I'm not so close with. But overwhelmingly, we see people getting the joke."

Unless you were one of the 198,850 unwitting victims tossed into the flame-broiled abyss as of Monday evening. As I was.

Well done, Burger King. You have simultaneously crushed my ego and valued the worth of my friendship, nay, ex-friendship, as one-tenth the cost of a Whopper.