I get that impression also, and doubly so for the FUD-packed GDPR messages. "Oh sorry, we can't legally serve this webpage to you, EU resident, because of the atrocious GDPR! (because it's full of spyware which the GDPR forbids but we won't say that part out loud)"
For what it's worth, I do think the GDPR messages are raising awareness in a way the cookie warnings were not, in part because some websites use dark patterns to get you to "agree" and others do not, and people are starting to smell the bullshit. If nothing else, the laundry list of trackers the websites are required to tell you about is a real eye-opener to the layperson who doesn't run uMatrix.
But, those companies then have a choice. Option A: Accept that their business model relied on widespread stalking of their users which was never acceptable and is now illegal, and significantly change the business. Option B: Pretend they didn't notice, throw up a pop-up ignore the "freely given" requirement for consent, and hope nobody calls them out on it.
Option B is a lot easier for scummy companies to do, and the prevalence of opt-out banners with assumed consent and dark patterns shows how many companies went that route.