How well does 'microtargeted psychographic advertising' work anyway?

"Psychographic microtargeting" sounds like a phrase straight from the mouth of Big Brother. But is this advertising tactic really the dystopian big, bad wolf that many are making it out to be?

Facebook is currently running damage control to contain the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal that's prompted rage at the company and calls for users to delete their Facebook accounts. The valid criticisms that citizens of the internet are levying at Facebook largely regard the mishandling of its users' data.