A President of Dunkin' Nation, but a Mayor of the White House?

What is going on when we can have a president of Dunkin’ Nation but a mayor of the White House?

This week, Dunkin’ Donuts launches a national campaign using the location-based social networking site Foursquare, encouraging users to sign-up via their Facebook page then use Foursquare to check-in to as many Dunkin’ locations as possible to win prizes and Foursquare prestige.

The campaign, which the Boston digital design firm Studiocom worked on, is well-planned, nicely executed, and actually pretty funny considering New England’s obsession with the chain (the 10-per-day check-in limit can easily be doubled within one mile of the Boston mag offices and most locations in the city, so long as the check-ins are spaced one hour apart).

But one break from the standard Foursquare etiquette is that, at the end of five weeks of donuts and check-ins and prizes, Dunkin’ will deem a President of Dunkin’ Nation — not a mayor.

“We thought being president was more fun,” Dan Saia, Dunkin’s VP of customer engagement, told the Herald.

Joining Foursquare must be so fun because, coincidentally, other big Foursquare news of the past week is that the White House joined up, featuring “the places President Barack Obama has visited, what he did there, plus historical information and more.” As the story spread across the Internet, commenters were quick to quip whether or not Obama would be the mayor of the White House. As it turns out, Obama isn’t the mayor of the White House on Foursquare (or in reality, for that matter); the real mayor of the White House is Sarifudin Fahmy, who’s checked in 46 times during the past 60 days.

If all of this seems a bit crazy, you’re not alone. Someone, please get a sheriff to patrol Foursquare because it’s kind of like the Wild West.