HP Photosmart Slimming Effect

HP have a new feature available on a number of their latest HP Photosmart digital cameras, a feature I ignored when it was announced as it sounded completely pointless, it simply shrinks the image horizontally to make the subject appear thinner. Recently however, a number of websites, including those not normally interested in photography have protested at how stupid the feature is:

"Of course, there's also something a little unethical, or perhaps diabolical, about offering such a ridiculously shallow, inherently manipulative, and flagrantly fraud-assisting option on a consumer-priced camera. Not to mention the fact that it blatantly enforces negative body image issues." (from planetdan.net)

... could this simply be a case of "there's no such thing as bad publicity"? The more press coverage of HP Photosmart digital cameras, the more the fans of the new features will secretly buy these digital cameras.