Invisible Boyfriend: Order A Fake Boyfriend For When The Real Thing Is Just Too Much

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“Invisible Boyfriend gives you real-world and social proof that you’re in a relationship—even if you’re not—so you can get back to living life on your own terms.”

So claims the creators of Invisible Boyfriend, a digital subscription service that helps potential single gay men “create credible, reasonable stories that you can bring home to curious mom, your buddies, and coworkers. These stories are backed by virtual and real-world social proof.” (Sorry, but I’m LOL’ing over the phrase real world social proof).

Yes, this is really a “thing,” and, yes, you can sign up for a Beta membership to, well, create your own fake dream man. You can select his picture, create a story as to how you met (there’s even a little Mad Libs-type tool you can use), and, here’s the kicker: he’ll text you on demand and you can have real-time “conversations.” Depending on the level of membership you select, you can get even more customization.

If the texts aren’t enough, there are plans in the works to allow “real world social proof” of your faux lover, including gifts, personal notes, and flowers (that you are essentially sending to yourself). However, they do make it clear: no sexting or dirty messages.

And, if you want to play along with this elaborate scheme, but don’t want to sign up to get an invisible boyfriend, you can pretend to be someone’s invisible boyfriend: The website is currently accepting selfie applications for potential fake boyfriends. If someone chooses your picture to be their fake boyfriend, the company will send you a “I’m Someone’s Invisible Boyfriend” t-shirt and will pay you for each additional selfie you submit. It’s a part-time job!

There is something eerie about the premise here. Why would one want this? The Invisible Boyfriend people claim it is all about social pressure: “Are you LGBT? Deployed overseas? Focusing on a promotion? An Invisible Boyfriend can help you manage real-world distractions …We want to help you create lifelike stories that you know inside and out for your boyfriend. We will have pictures available, customizable backstories, and other systems in place to keep the invisible factor as discreet as possible.”

Finally, it’s someone you can take home to your mom … sort of.