While I will admit that I don't hate Zidane and never had any love for Hope....
Elfboy's reaction to Zidane makes a lot more sense than Rob's reaction to Hope, in the "This. This is what creators thought people wanted to see."
Hope was someone thrust in because they needed someone to fill that niche for Lightning, to compliment her. That's not "This is what people wanted to see." Whether he does a good job or not is a different story entirely.
Zidane, meanwhile, was clearly made to be someone NOT like Cloud/Squall. After Cloud's got the fucked up psychological mess, and Squall's the anti-social prick, they wanted a more fun-loving, upbeat main. That was Zidane's point. This is something that seems more likely a "Fans will want to see this!" given I'm sure its easy to sell on the whole "ok, people are getting tired of the unrelatable jerks, lets make someone friendly for once!"
(yes, I know, Cloud isn't anything like Squall, but Cloud isn't exactly the most friendly of characters either. He's just not afraid to, you know, converse with his allies on stuff that isn't directly related to "stop the bad guy.")