OP is a professional "coin promoter"(aka ann bumper/shitposter), and all the replies seem to be written by one single person/organisation that repeats their agenda over and over again, just rephrasing it every single time.
There are multiple OP's in this case.Which one are you referring to ? I'm also an OP
No matter how good an ICO looks like, if they are willing to use such unethical means of promotion to get an unfair advantage over their competitors, then they are going to be a project not looking at. It basically means "we cannot get attention elsewhere, so we can to pay for it".
From my experience,ICO founders or the marketing team is not aware if there is a rule that forbids using such pumping services.They're approached by service providers which give them false promises of giving more exposure to a wider audience hence they fall for it.