Anime is getting pretty mainstream in much of the world, it isn't off putting to younger people. Even moreso in Asia, where most of these brands are based.

If anything it's weird that this sub often reacts so negatively to anime mascots when so much of modern entertainment is influenced by it or shares the same roots these days. Here in New York at the mall near my university pretty much every store has a section for some sort of anime merchandise, be it statues, clothing, anime blurays or books. Even various big tech companies have anime mascots they have used for advertising in Asia.

For instance, gaming is pretty mainstream these days, both Sony and Nintendo are giants in the industry and both are Japanese, a significant portion of the games on their consoles are either anime style or have similar roots. Thus it's also only natural that those people are at worst indifferent to the style rather than actively put off.