Second Life - A New Place for Marketing?

This is a little random, but today at work my boss was telling me all about this interesting new tactic companies are using to get extra public relations: they're building their stores in the game Second Life and selling merchandise. The clothes and products they sell in the game are only virtual and for your avatar. The idea is though to spread awareness about the brand and make people shop their when they turn off the computer. It's almost like a new form of product placement. So far Second Life has housed brands from Rebok to Toyota and until recently, American Apparel. Kinda cool, you can read more about it in this New York Times article: Second Life's Real-World Problems.