The bench press, which evolved from the horizontal floor press, started to come into prominence in the late 40’s and 50’s. This was due to a renewed interest in bodybuilding, which took off right after the Second World War. Bodybuilders popularized this movement because of the type of developments that resulted. The deep wide chest plus the increased arm girths quickly caught on as the type of physical development that most males wanted to have. Also bench presses were considered an easy exercise to do. After all, what could be better than to do your exercises lying down? On top of that, more weight could be used. The lying down part caused many early iron game purists from competitive ranks to call the bench press a lazy man’s exercise. However in a few years, it was found that the bench press did have some value as an assistance exercise for the competitive standing Olympic press.
Quelle: Columbus Weightlifting - Links and Articles - THE MYTH OF THE BENCH PRESS

Mir persönlich ists egal. Es ist eben eine Übung die machen kann, wenn man will. So wie viele andere Übungen auch. Soll doch jeder machen, was er will.