A cliché becomes a cliché because we recognise and re-use it.
As a writer I know editors don’t want stereotyped characters. They want new, fresh and engaging. But stereotypes play an important role. They move on and off-stage with a minimum of description and fuss, and they can be gently subverted to provide sly fun.
As a reader, I like stereotypes. I’m happy to know the red haired heroine will be feisty; that tall, dark and handsome will be heroic; that nerds wear glasses and provide the means of solving difficulties. Stereotypes are comforting in their familiarity.
Sometimes a writer such as P G Wodehouse will create his own stereotype (think of the gently ineffective Bertie Wooster and his “rabbit” clones) and then recycle it through a number of characters and stories, to the delight of his readers.
Stereotypes are part of storytelling technique.