I think you make some excellent points. Engineers may think they such things are beneath them, or that they don't succumb to marketing. But this is obviously a lie. We're just as susceptible, and we like fancy clean looking images.
I disagree that engineers are just as susceptible. I do agree that they are susceptible.
To illustrate, ask yourself this: would an engineer prefer something pretty over something functional? If the choice was between something that works and something that is easy on the eyes, which would an engineer choose? I think the answer to that is clear: he would choose something that works. He might not like that he has to choose in that way, but in the end, that is the choice he almost certainly will make.
But management is very different. Management will choose something pretty over something functional. That happens all the time, as we've all seen repeatedly, and much to our annoyance since we are often the recipient of the products that management chooses.
What I meant is, fancy sharp stylistic pictures and branding makes everyone's nether regions moist. This reaction happens very quickly. It is only after this reaction has passed does the engineer have time to make an evaluation of the product specifications and decide on the relative merits (or lack thereof) of a product.
What can happen is that someone might be
so put off by marketing wank that this initial reaction does not have time to sink in before the engineer gets viscerally disgusted or annoyed at the marketing attempt. In this case, then all bets are off. But I don't think this reaction is specific to engineers, just people who are focused on avoiding the wool being pulled over their eyes in general.
Of course, if you reverse this argument and say you start with a technically sound product and you embellish it with quality or poor quality marketing, the engineer will very often go for the quality marketing item. Sometimes, even at increased cost.