I agree with your logic, reading your post I'm not sure who you think the whales are? Your downvotes weren't really from anyone with any significant power.
The reason why her post did so well was that she was willing to go out there, thinking outside the box and make some kind of spectacular statement to grow Steemit. Is it worth that amount of money? Probably not, but seeing those kinds of payouts will incentivize people to do the same. It's almost an advert for posting about promoting Steemit.
We'll see people step up their game in that field. Its all about the first mover advantage here. :)