Stoned and Single was a @Meticulously Ridiculous dating experiment that leveraged @Reddit Advertising to promote the dating profile of @Brian Swichkow (me). The campaign yielded 134,000 impressions, 900 upvotes, 237 comments, 17 date offers, three podcast interviews, and sparked ten days of laughter, all for $85.64 in ad spend. Serving as the first piece of @Reddit Art, its most memorable outcome involved the ad being shared with someone the creator had already dated, leading to a new friendship and a podcast episode. Due to limitations in Reddit's ad targeting at the time, the promotion was aimed at Los Angeles users who had recently visited @r/TwoXChromosomes, a @subreddit designed for women's perspectives. The advertisement itself was a thirty-second @iOS Screen Share, simply scrolling through the @Hinge profile. To @Split Test approaches, two ads were run: one conveyed @Authentic Vulnerability, while the other broke the @Fourth Wall and directly referenced the advertising medium. The authentic vulnerability approach generated greater resonance and lower costs, leading to the meta version being paused. This is what it looked like:

The inspiration for Stoned and Single came when @Ali Spagnola visited my @Conversation Studio and reminded me that “@art is art if the creator calls it art.” That idea, along with @Emily Schmidt’s perspective on @Giving Yourself Permission, gave me the green light to embrace my own Meticulously Ridiculous style. Days later, while smoking a joint and frustrated by running out of likes on Hinge, I thought "I'm not gonna pay for likes, I'm an artist." and the idea emerged. Playing on my @Facebook Ads Prank from years earlier, I set out to see what would happen if I put myself—and @My Hinge Profile—on full display, unfiltered and a little absurd. The best part was watching people genuinely engage, not just as spectators but as co-conspirators in the experiment. When a former date encountered my ad and sent it back to me, it was proof that this blend of art, authenticity, and playfulness could create real-world connections that linger far beyond the post itself. Two weeks after the advert hit 800 votes, @Will Cady—working for @Reddit at the time—reached out to inform me that my ad had prompted Reddit update to their @Advertising Policy (Reddit) which now required, "ads must clearly and accurately represent the brand, product, or service that is being promoted."

Jumps

@Reddit for Romance; a tutorial for using Reddit ads to find true love
@Burritos and Booze; an example of the authenticity facilitated by Reddit's platform
@"Would you go on a date this guy?"; a prior date was referred to my Reddit ad

Contexts

#stoned-and-single (this is the @Root Memo)
#my-reddit-art (See: @Reddit Art)
#meticulously-ridiculous (See: @Meticulously Ridiculous)

Related

Jumps

Contexts