Maybe that's exactly what they are doing: providing an option so ridiculous that we would be HAPPY to have the secondary if offered over that.

Sort of like saying, "I can chop off your arm or pinch your butt. Your pick, but I have to do one or the other." The person making such a generous offer knows which one you are likely to pick. The person making the offer likely made the alternate choice so stupid so as to force you into letting him do exactly what he wanted to do in the first place, which was to pinch your butt.