Edit: Regarding the photos, those I have no comment on. They could have been faked, sure; the actual landings though, I don't believe so.
exactly
As someone noted above, the whole Apollo program was primarily a propaganda/PR effort. My theory is that the pictures came back fucked up, over exposed, out of focus...whatever, and the marketing people were like "what the fuck is this? we can't use this." and then they did what marketing people do...
I agree this is the most plausible explanation.