It's not the first subject where I've heard that sentiment, the other big one being difficulty in video games. But it's pretty disingenuous, since most great media authors I know seek some level of feedback on their creation, and adjust based on how people have perceived it because some part of their work isn't quite coming across how they'd hope. Valve famously does oodles of QA testing on all their properties.

The question isn't just between "Is providing attractive characters good/bad". It can also be more nuanced, like "I want to make this character really attractive, but some people feel soured by the designs I've given where she has a bikini. Is there some way to design her that's still really visually appealing, in a slightly sexual way, but also feels enjoyable to people who view her more as a role model?"

A great example of that nuance was in the "Tracer victory pose debacle" in Overwatch. Tracer had a victory pose that was just her, facing away, shoving her butt out. Someone commented that it felt off-kilter for her personality, and Blizzard ended up replacing it with another one. A censorship crowd wailed on the occasion, but when comparing the two poses, there's a more reasonable take there; the ass-centric pose didn't fit the character much, and the new one was both cute and still managed to show off her slender legs while also fitting the "pilot" theme. It also helps that media of that type has a lot of character designs on offer, so it might just be a matter of hitting more archetypes correctly, instead of everything leaning in the direction of "big booba no clotha".