I am sure it was a blast, but it was NOT done "for fun" to amuse the engineering staff. Nor is it an effort at "home automation".

This is part of a marketing campaign not unlike the office depot "easy" button, except they've designed an actual button that sort-of works.

The point is to get people excited about the idea of a Netflix marathon and create some buzz among geeky subscribers. It doesn't matter how many people actually create or use "the button".