The bumper cases weren't given away because Apple did something wrong, they were given away to try and counter the bad PR that other companies were drumming up. The antenna "issue" that the iPhone 4 had was also an "issue" for every other smartphone.
Sure, the bumper cases helped, because they moved your hand away from the antenna area. But bumper cases would also help every other smartphone. It was provably not an issue specific to Apple and affected all brands (often to a larger extreme than the iPhone), but there's not much press value in pointing out a common problem for all smartphones whereas there is a lot of press value in manufacturing negative stories about Apple.
The only reality distortion field in effect here is the one that causes everybody to intentionally ignore the fact that every other smartphone had the same problem, and refuse to even acknowledge that fact when other people point it out.
