Burger King's (Friendship) Killer App

Man, you really gotta hand it to Burger King's ad people for finding all these innovative ways to get folks talking. First there was the creepily hilarious Subservient Chicken, then the hamburger-scented body spray, and now, probably best of all, this.

It's a common problem for anyone who joined Facebook some time ago. You look at your friend list and wonder who these people are. Burger King wants to help consumers do something about it. The fast-food chain has released the Whopper Sacrifice application on Facebook. The app rewards people with a coupon for BK's signature burger when they cull 10 friends. Each time a friend is excommunicated, the application sends a notification to the banished party via Facebook's news feed explaining that the user's love for the unlucky soul is less than his or her zeal for the Whopper. The effort crafted by Crispin Porter + Bogusky came about after agency creative staffers confronted the too-many-friends scenario themselves on Facebook.

A free Whopper for every ten people you unfriend? Some of you could eat free for years. And there doesn't seem to be any provision against re-friending, say, after lunch. Sure, somebody will create a fake group for everyone to friend and unfriend, but BK still gets their message out. Very very clever.