Money buying friends

Money can buy friends apparently - according to this advertisement announcing a new texting plan from a major cellphone company. I found it in today's Times...
Is that all they think of friendships? Maybe it is all utilitarinism.
On a side note, an interesting thread about offering money to get friends on Facebook had popped up here on Slashdot a while back.


This research team from University of London came up with a happiness scale, from one (utterly miserable) to seven (euphoric). They then came up with a formula which they believe can calculate how much extra money the average person would have to earn every year to move up the happiness scale.
So, for instance, living with a loved one was found to bring the same amount of satisfaction as being given an $160,500 annual raise. Marriage brings the equivalent amount of happiness as a $100,000 a year raise, while having an active social life – meeting friends several times a week – is the equivalent of a $120,000 annual salary increase.