BetterBoyfriend Wants to Help Terrible Men Seem Like They Care About Ladies' Feelings

Impact

Remember the episode of Sex and the City where Richard showered Samantha with expensive gifts, only for Samantha to discover that he'd been having his sassy gay assistant do the shopping and gift-wrapping and card-writing all along?

Well, if it had taken place in 2016, perhaps Richard would have been able to give his sassy gay assistant some more time off. Because now there's an exciting new way for men to trick their wives and girlfriends into thinking they care enough about them to buy an occasional gift (without actually having to go through the trouble of buying said gift).

It's a new startup called BetterBoyfriend, which connects men to their own "personal shoppers dedicated to selecting and arranging thoughtful gifts and activities on your behalf."

In a recent interview with the Guardian, BetterBoyfriend founder Dan Sullivan said that the inspiration for the site came from his own tendency to work long hours and forget important dates like birthdays and anniversaries. Apparently, he's not the only one: So far, the $70-a-month service is reportedly generating $17,000 monthly from its first 350 users.

"BetterBoyfriend hit something," Sullivan told the Guardian. "It's a pain point everyone has."

Indeed, everyone knows that the three biggest pain points in the average man's life are 1) shaving, 2) spontaneous boners and 3) figuring how to appear like a conscientious boyfriend without actually having to be a conscientious boyfriend.

While we've reached out to Sullivan to determine whether the app itself is legit, this wouldn't be the first time a startup has attempted to address the grueling chore of #3. There's also the Gentleman App, which encourages men to "let a professional take over the date planning and daily affirmations" because guys "aren't the best at relationships."

But with the advent of such technology threatening to usurp traditional methods of fostering relationships by investing time and energy into them, we can't help but wonder: When it comes to building a genuine partnership based on love, respect and trust, can there ever really be "an app for that?"

h/t the Guardian