I think it's a moment of desperation. It happened before when they changed art directors and brought in branding; that, for me, was the beginning of the slippery, only compounded by introducing stronger concepts/themes/stories, which, in my head, means that the class photographers they usually hire no longer do what they do best, but are under the 'guidance' of somebody else already committed to an idea. It's like keeping a canary and doing your own singing if you can't. I just don't keep canaries.
Rob C