I think inherently we're all pretty selfish (for better or worse). I'd guess that saying "we can see the from the past that the brand is damaged enough to cause XX% layoffs/go under" - as in an implicit 'this kind of thing will have real life consequences to your job' - probably has more impact than saying "there are real world consequences to people you have and are never likely to meet". Not saying it's right, but it's probably true.
