I really dislike emails that claim to come from a person but obviously come from an automated system - I find it remarkably dishonest.
Edit: I don't mind if I think the person is even vaguely aware I exist. But an email claiming to be from an executive of some huge company saying how happy they are that I have signed up doesn't fall into that category.
To me, if it's a 'real person' but an automated system it's even more dishonest.
The message is not coming from them.
I know it's not particularly disingenuous - it's just 'marketing' but at the same time it really triggers my 'Orwellian Dystopia' concerns about the completely impersonal future where relationships are utterly commoditized and we lose the ability to distinguish between man and machine.
In fact, the overly familiar tone of messages those that 'try to hard' to lack protocol bother me as well.
A 'corporation' using the language of 'friendship' is ridiculous. Sadly, I think this will go on as we love to think that 'someone who uses more casual language with us must be on more familiar terms'.
Frankly, I'd rather go back to proper titles. Mr. Ms. whatever.
"I don't know you, you are not my friend, you cannot be familiar with me, don't tell me jokes or help me 'chillax'" is what I feel like saying.
Why? It's just a matter of time and scale. It's impossible to email thousands of people a personalized message.
I still see it as an email from that person, assuming they wrote the template themselves. I would also expect to be able to reply directly to that person if I wanted to, though.
Edit: I don't mind if I think the person is even vaguely aware I exist. But an email claiming to be from an executive of some huge company saying how happy they are that I have signed up doesn't fall into that category.