I agree with your observations, but I am unsure how the Airdrop exactly plays into this. I know this is their method of choice right now, but I have seen many alternatives with ICO bonus schemes, or basically any incentive you can imagine that involves this sort of forced marketing.

In the end, someone is going to have to put down money for these coins, if all you have is an army of redditors waiting for free shitcoins, your project is not going to take off anyway.

The airdrop has its uses, just like the ICO imo. As long as the market reacts to hype instead of fundamentals or real technical promise, we will see these types of schemes.