The idea is genius, the act itself, when it isn't explained to the consumer, is completely immoral.

I'm reminded of the "Your Family's Geneaology Book", where "Your Family" is replaced with your last name. For instance, "The Smith's Geneaology Book". The books, which aren't cheap, are full of generic content about cultures and countries. Inserted in the middle is perhaps a page of surname-relevant scholarship. One of my uncles with a different last name has one, and his didn't come with any surname specific material at all: just a printout in the back of people in the US sharing his name.

They've been selling these since before the internet was around, and as a kid they were my first introduction to this type of content-free marketing.