Well how else can they sell Space Nazi Youth merch to your son or daughter if they don't establish the Empire/FO as being equal opportunity? I mean come on man! Pssh, that's just obvious!
And yeah I know liking the bad guys isn't unique to Star Wars, but the level of merchandising of the bad guys in Star Wars does make it a little disturbing to me. I mean, their SW themed parks, have literal fascist stormtrooper squads, patrolling around the place, interacting with people and children, and it's just....ok. They even make them look cool, and if you want your own Space Nazi Youth helmet and blaster, just step right over here to the merch store and get out your credit card! They're even sized for kids if you want! And I just....I mean, it really weirds me out.
I do understand the human desire to indulge darker fantasies, I don't "get it" though, as in why that's enjoyable. I don't personally do that, as I just don't enjoy being an asshole like that, even in fiction/games. But I do think that, I dunno, some types of "bad guys" that have such terrifyingly real parallels, maaaaybe shouldn't be considered as ok to glamorize? *shrugs*