Your imaginary girlfriend, or markets in everything

I thought long and hard before choosing the “economics” category heading for this post. So what is an imaginary girlfriend?

This is a service provided by a real life girl where she will pretend to be your long distance girlfriend by sending you personalized love letters, emails, pictures, leave phone messages (if you want), and provide other girlfriend-like services. This relationship appears real to others that may see these things, but it is not. There will be no actual real life meetings or relationship between you and your Imaginary Girlfriend other than that specified in your order.

There is more:

What happens when the time is completed?

When the stated time period is over, you can break up with your Imaginary Girlfriend for any reason you wish. She will write you a final letter begging you to take her back. Of course you can continue your “relationship” by renewing, or start over and find a new Imaginary Girlfriend of your choice!

The suppliers note: “Anyone who has difficulty distinguishing reality from fantasy should NOT use this service.” At the same time, they write: “Perhaps you are wondering what it’s like to have a long distance girlfriend?”

Here are some of the available (imaginary) girlfriends.

Thanks to Rich for the pointer. Maybe some people do this for fun, but I suspect this is one of the more brutal installments of “Markets in Everything.”

Addendum: Let’s outsource this to India!

Second addendum: Rich has an excellent home page.