I agree that there are cases where the “problem” is not the best fixture for a team to hold onto. In those cases I like to replace the word problem with “opportunity.” To use your example, an opportunity might be expressed as “I would love to have the opportunity to impress my cat-loving friends on Instagram with a new minijacket that Meowface can wear around the house.” An argument can be made that any casual need that isn’t first perceived as a problem can indeed be phrased within a problem statement, though, when considering that consumers often lack something causing them to seek shallow pleasure (e.g. I am bored during lazy Sunday mornings and so I want an app that randomly entertains me). This gets into the psychology of the consumer described by Christiansen and the milkshake theory, but also the likes of Nir Ayal and his reasoning behind addictive products.

Arguably, though, phrasing projects as problem statements is the most broadly effective technique…acknowledging there are certainly cases where there are better methods.