That's a particularly interesting example, because the ridge wallet is (supposedly) a tool for improving privacy, but your experience suggests that the process

That's a particularly interesting example, because the ridge wallet is (supposedly) a tool for improving privacy, but your experience suggests that the process used for selling it is hardly respectful of privacy. I've also seen the ads, and I'm damn sure they're coming to me through "surveillance advertising" as OP calls it. Fear-based advertising that exacerbates the underlying cause of that (possibly quite legitimate) fear seems to be an accelerating trend.