It is, but it's also the truth. I have direct experience with this, having worked in customer-facing roles in this very industry. Most consumers who say they would pay more for a higher quality/heavy duty/simpler/oldschool/whatever appliance actually won't when it comes time to finally belly up to that checkout counter.

I actually had the opportunity to do the math on this not long ago, and the answers were quite illuminating. I outlined that in a recent comment here, and the takeaway is that adjusted for inflation modern appliances are actually around one third — 33% — of the cost that they were back in the "good old days," or in the case I worked up 1985. So no wonder we feel they're built so cheaply. It's because they actually are.

The problem is, getting a current consumer to pay $1300 or $1400 USD on a washing machine or a dishwasher is a really tough sell.

You could say they were making a performative comment as well.