Do as I say, not as I do?
Is that still a popular way to communicate moral messages?
Even coming from Disney in the first place the message came across as the old argument of a priest-of-past-sins being preferable to a priest-of-purity.
I was running with derefr's suggestion that it was intentional targeting.
Intentionally try to send a message to a demographic by placing Wall-E in their natural path would be a decision made by the corporation well above the level of Pixar's animators. That body would almost certainly be the same one that green-lit the avalanche of Cheap Plastic Crap.
So, even if they believed Pixar's message, and were intentionally trying to preach to those at-risk, they were saying "you should learn from Wall-E" (do as I say) while simultaneously saying "also, buy this plastic crap" (not as I do).
Even coming from Disney in the first place the message came across as the old argument of a priest-of-past-sins being preferable to a priest-of-purity.