Not so much a victim of marketing but a matter of saving time. You actually have to take a basket of cold, wet material and spend time hanging each and every item from the line. Then you have to go back and get every item back down. God help you if a sudden storm blows up, somebody mows their lawn or if dust or smoke is blown your way while it's hanging.

And then somebody got the idea that drying lines were an eye sore and passed community regulations banning them.