In the US, body armour is a $465 million-a-year industry, which is set to reach $5.7 billion by 2024. As a culture of fear is perpetuated by gun attacks and violence in the US, high end brands are stepping in to give people peace of mind through high quality, undetectable bulletproof clothing.

The NRA’s latest advert is a call to arms that pits gun-toting Americans against those supposedly destroying their nation – but keeps this group unnamed. By leaving the aggressors anonymous, the NRA is playing off a polarised society that can find enemies in anything.

As urban centres expand and densify, emergency services are scrambling to extend their reach. To help people feel safer in public spaces, tech brands are now harnessing the power of mobile networks and GPS tracking, with Nimb’s connected panic button proving that wearables aren’t just for workouts.

Pre-apocalyptic ‘prepping’ is an industry valued between $500 million and several billion in the US alone. At the peak of the Ebola outbreak, Amazon US sales of full-body protective suits shot up by 131,000%. Influencing the way we buy, the apps we download and even the holidays we take, is paranoia altering society for good?