In my opinion a large part of the problem is the resistance to CO2. What I am seeing over and over is that new hobbyists try plants but don't want to spend the money to get a proper CO2 system. They try plants without CO2, fail, and give up on plants.
On one side of the coin, we have a lot of people doing low tech and recommending plants that can "tolerate" environments without CO2 injection, to get more people into it as training wheels. But the issue is that they go too hard in that direction and we get people thinking they can keep all sorts of plants hanging onto dear life, so beginners have this false belief and false hope.
People are going into this thinking CO2 equipment as an optional, rather than essential part of the system like a light, filter, or even tank stand. Tank stands often cost just as much if not more than the tank itself, the same people willing to spend several hundred dollars on a stand will not spend 120$ for a CO2 regulator.
On the other side of the coin, we have gatekeepers that make planted tanks seem way harder than it actually is, so beginners are intimidated by planted tanks (and now it seems that "aquascaping" is lumped in as an interchangeable term). My perception is that these "gatekeepers" are making it seem this way as a way to make themselves look more impressive.