Swichkow rolled the ads out slowly and discontinued them shortly after discovery in an effort to keep the prank going as long as possible. Compounded with the fact that the Snowden surveillance scandal had just broken in the media, it only took a few weeks for Russell to become deeply paranoid and stop using his phone.
Eventually, Swichkow sent Russell an ad containing information that Russell had only ever told Swichkow and his girlfriend, which is when he finally started to catch on to what was really happening. Swichkow decided now was the time to end it, partly because he was afraid he was actually going to send his roommate to an asylum. So, he sent one final ad:
Facebook
"That's right, I was responsible for most of those dildo ads!"
The next day, Swichkow found a message on the kitchen whiteboard simply reading: "VERY VERY VERY WELL PLAYED," which is basically the written equivalent of the slow clap. The story later went viral on business websites as a lesson in niche marketing, though we're not exactly sure what that lesson is. "You could potentially destroy a man with the right ads?"
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