Yes.
What the media - government officials do in connivance with each other is to have a tear-jerker story,
such as "Vanilla the Cat returned to owner after 7 years".
This cat jumped out of the woman's daughter's arms and disappeared. The family advertised and waited and waited.
Finally, because the mother had kept the same phone number [that's the only part of the story which sounds
advisable to do], when Vanilla the Cat turned up somewhere in a remote area of San Francisco - having crossed
the Golden Gate Bridge even, from her original home in Marin County -
the microchip found on the cat allowed some authority to phone the woman. The cat was returned to understandable
rejoicing.
But I felt immediately that this was one of those PROMOTIONAL stories, given big play in the national media to drive
the point home : look everyone needs a microchip !
Similar ones are always pushed on the public such as "Facebook account saves a life" or "Cell phone leads to perpetrator of crime".
These are all "SELLS" - trying to push reluctant members of the public into "The Herd". Holdouts are always a threat,
so they are often worn down by such means.