Yeah except the real situation is that you have the "choice" of going to the one and only shop that sells <thing> and you are given the "choice" of paying extra

Yeah except the real situation is that you have the "choice" of going to the one and only shop that sells <thing> and you are given the "choice" of paying extra, or be forced to sit through a timeshare pitch before you can even pick the thing off the shelf. Except the timeshare pitch is hyper-personalized specifically for you based on your entire internet history everywhere and is designed to yield the maximum chance of manipulating you into falling for it. As a consumer you have easy options to block out the sales pitch, except the store who has a monopoly on the thing you want is now trying to scare users into disabling their ad blockers. The users that do this are disproportionately more likely to be less versed in how these things work and are thus more likely to fall for the scam. Yes, it's a protection racket. It's just got a funny hat on this time.