It’s caused by wear over time and is impossible to avoid except by using a keyboard cover or key top “stick-ons”. “Chintzy” plastic might be the cause. More at Opinion: Shiny Keys on MacBook Air & Pro Are Ugly and Shouldn’t Happen
I know nothing about Mac keyboards, but I do have some experience wearing keyboard letters out.
I’ve been using Microsoft “ergonomic” keyboards for years. Eventually those letters all wear off, which means I get another new keyboard just because a handful of key caps wore off. I’ve wondered about adding something like a layer of clear nail polish when the keys are new, or at least readable. Never actually tried it though.
The one I’m using now isn’t like that at all yet. It too looks odd though, as I removed the caps between Ctrl and Alt on both sides of the space bar because all they ever do is mess me up.
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Our, admittedly older, MBA is like new, but isn’t really subject to wear as it’s backlit, black keys, white/clear lettering… The others here are mostly Apple’s own Extended keyboards, altho there are some really old ones in the garage from Fat Macs, even colorful iMacs of past ages… None have worn off so badly as to be unusable, altho I have replace DD’s MBP keyboard when a Pepsi spill wiped it out…
So for us, family, never been a problem… Ahh, well…