There's an ongoing change in ideas about photographic imagery.  When I was a kid my Dad had the camera (kids didn't) and he carefully lined us up for formal portraits.  Today, 15-year-olds all pack cameras and shoot by sticking the phone out at arm's length, unannounced. To sell products to kids today, you need photos that look like they were taken by their peers, not their parents.

Finally, someone who gets it! Gets it so much I wanted to quote it.

Quote from: sjlocke on September 12, 2012, 18:22

Yes, they're shot with the instagram 'camera/filters'.

Are these photo apps you can download?

Yes.
Just as a general observation (I don't know that you are Mantis, but I suspect you could not have escaped knowing about these things otherwise), I've noticed those who are reluctant to embrace social media miss out on so many important trends that affect advertisting (and so what we should be shooting & how we do it) Downloadable apps like Instagram, Hipstamatic and Snapseed have been shaping how the majority of under 30's in the developed world communicate now. Hence my desire to quote Stocktastic above. Of course it's a fad, there'll be something different soon, but currently this is what people with products that they want to sell to people under 30 want.