Their prolific penetration is no surprise. They store information efficiently, scan fast and reliably, and now that QR code scanning is built-in on most phone cameras, there is nothing that even comes close to their convenience.
With how widespread they are in consumer facing spaces like advertising, it's also no suprise that companies would want to brand their QR codes. The most common practice is placing a logo in the center, which works because QR codes have error correction built-in.
Beyond simply placing a logo on top, there have also been many attempts to create "artistic" QR codes. Making a picture is the obvious thing to do, and there are various ways of combining the QR code pixels with an image for a unique look.
While these might require some upfront technical work, it's trivial to change the image to create any number of new QR codes. This is in stark contrast to the labor intensive process of having artists design fully bespoke QR codes from scratch.
Obviously, human-made QR code's aren't practical for anyone without lots of time or money since each new URL would require a redesign.