It was the time crypto were on a bubble. People would buy anything and everything called cryptocoin without a second thought. People could just create a token, distribute it freely to people and list them on exchange, people would still buy it with an increasing price. That was the reason why airdrop holders got good money for their holdings and people created new coins like crazy. But things has changed now, its difficult to sell even the ICO of a well planned project. Even if someone provide free tokens, they'll never have any value.