Do they serve with straws because people actually want to suck their drink through them or are they just included as a signal for service quality?

Over here in Germany (a country exceptionally delusional about being good at environmentalism) tiny plastic spoons have suddenly become a standard feature at ice cream vendors. The only reasonably explanation is that businesses feared falling behind, an irrational fear of a plastic spoon gap. If they all just stopped including them without asking at the same time, nobody would lose (except for plastics manufacturers and their distributors I guess)