This study investigates the discursive construction of aggressive marketing expenditures, especially consumer subsidies, within digital platform ecosystems, focusing on Alibaba from 2019 to 2025. By utilizing strategic cost management theory and critical discourse analysis, it examines earnings call transcripts and industry reports. Key findings highlight three themes: justification of an arms race, temporary sacrifice discourse, and withdrawal anxiety. A notable case is the Q2 2024 subsidy reduction, which reveals a disconnect between operational potential and narrative framing. The study introduces the concept of narrative stickiness, showing how costs are portrayed as non-negotiable through storytelling, thereby enhancing understanding of cost behaviour in organizational discourse and challenging established game-theoretic assumptions in platform competition.