I can't imagine anyone teaching in hardboots for the primary purpose of promoting them. When I was teaching, working for Erik, I taught in hardboots for one real reason: in order to maximize my own carving time during off-hours (early morning, lunch, late pm) and that was that. The fact that I was putting hardboots in front of newbies was a nice bonus. I taught hundreds of newbies over 4 seasons and my equipment was never -never- an issue. (granted it was still visible in the Burton catalog... not sure if that matters)
I disagree in a beginner lesson. Erik has it right, once the student gets their first big helping of humble pie and gets their ass handed to them by the cool softboot equipment they're on, the focus turns inward and attitudes and egos disappear real fast.