Maybe the harm caused to a few people is worth the publicity and increased awareness.

One problem is that if the exploit is given silently to the company, they often don't change any of their practices (even if they fix that particular exploit), and more exploits soon surface, and maybe this time by people who plan to abuse them instead of telling the company.

By going loud and public, you ensure that the company has to do something to save face. It can't just be forgotten on some manager's desk.

And the fact is, you, as part of the public, would only know about the times when somebody goes loud about an exploit. For all you know, there might have been hundreds upon hundreds of times when security researches have gone to the company and been outright ignored, and when one finally goes loud with what he has found, you say "He really should have done this more quietly, it would have been much more responsible"